As 'Tyson Vs Paul' Mania Reaches Its Peak, Indian Combat Sports Await A Marketing Revolution

At the risk of sounding like a bit of a cliche from a British sitcom, boxing has a long history in India (so does cricket, a proposition that BB Nimbalkar, who up until Hanif Mohammad owned the record for the highest first class individual score would attest to, but that is not even the point ).

The earliest reference to boxing as a martial art comes from the Valmiki Ramayana Yuddhakaand 43.27 which talks about how the Vanara Mainda, spiritual son of Nasatya of the Ashwini Kumaras, who has a counterpart called Castor in Greek mythology, killed the not very imaginatively named Vajramushti, with a blow to the chest. The brother of this Vanara Dwivida also crops up later in Dwapara Yuga but that is a story for another day.

A careful reading of the Mahabharata would reveal that there are other episodes where fighting with hands and fists is mentioned. Notable duels include Bhimasena against Jarasandha, Bhimasena against Keechaka and Lord Krishna himself against Jambavan (last instance though is from the Bhagwata Purana again). Combat sports seem to have been an integral part of the tapestry of the lives of our ancestors in the later Vedic era.

The modern rules of boxing as we know it come to us through the eponymous Marquess of Queensbury. Amongst other things, he was Oscar Wilde's gay lover's father and from what we know was not one of the celebrated writer's greatest fans.

As per the lore of the original inhabitants of the British Isles, the Celts, the epic hero Cuchulain, the Hound of Ulster, was a great fighter himself. The next set of invaders i.e. the Saxons and Danes and Normans (despite the fact that Britain is an island, it was successfully invaded a lot of times) also worshipped Gods like Woden and Thor who were supposed to be skilled hand-to-hand combatants before Charlemagne decided to turn his perfectly good dominion into an ersatz version of the Roman empire which regarded his people, not to put too fine a point on it, as literal Barbarians.

The modern culture of professional boxing though has its roots in something more sinister. White slave owners in the deep South enjoyed watching Black slaves beat each other bloody. This is something that the great Muhammad Ali, who by the way had Irish blood, has attested to. However, it is clear that the African-American community were by and large prevented from fighting on the bigger stages of the sport and the dice was loaded against them. However, from the time of Jack Johnson onwards, most champions in the heavyweight category have indeed been African-American.

There is a long history when it comes to the fixing of boxing matches, especially professional, as opposed to amateur games. Having said that, I do feel that Mike Tyson is a favourite.

Prime Mike Tyson, despite a relatively short stature, for a heavyweigh,t was quite good. The cross that he used to deliver was in his prime a sight for sore eyes. This takes nothing away from the other indisputable fact that he has a very extensive rap sheet.

As a Hindu nationalist and a very avid reader of the history of the Hindus as a people, I find it quite incredible that we have not been able to market traditional Indian forms of combat sports that are played and loved across the world to the rest of the world. Our wrestling pits or akhadas, despite the fact that they actually attract a larger audience than Olympic wrestling when the Olympics are not happening, are not included in the Olympic games and neither are these athletes paid remotely as much as professional mat wrestlers or pro-wrestlers as they are known in the US.

As someone who has competed, albeit at a very low level, at the mudpit as well as mat-wrestling, I can say with certitude that the latter is the easier sport.

As far as I am concerned, I hope and perhaps a little too fondly, that the Government of the day shall take steps to market our combat sports across the world as well and turn them into viable career options so that at some point of time in the future, not only do our children study hard to become engineers or doctors they also have the best muscle mass and highest bench press scores across the world. As the Mundakopanishad says 'Nayamaatma Balaheenena Labhyo!'