Could it be considered a form of legalized duelling?
No.
Duelling has always been condemned by the Church, even with ipso facto excommunication and privation of christian burial, even if the person had been absolved before death.
But now of course most Novus Ordoites don't even think boxing is sinful.
The moral theology behind this is developed and do not replace it with a novus ordo fantasy.
1435. Duelling.—A duel is a prearranged combat between two persons fought with deadly weapons, for the purpose of settling a private quarrel.
It isn't always condemned:
1436. The Morality of Duelling.—(a) Generally, the duel is mortally sinful. Like ordinary fighting, it is against charity, and in addition it includes a will to kill or gravely injure another, to expose one's own life or limb to chance, and to usurp the function of the State. This applies to the challenged as well as to the challenger, for one can decline the combat to which one is dared.
(b) Exceptionally, a duel would not be sinful, if it took on the character of a war, or of self-defense against an unjust aggressor. Thus, in order to shorten a war or to lessen the bƖσσdshɛd, it might be lawful to make the whole issue depend on a single combat between the commanders or between champions chosen from opposing armies, as in the case of David and Goliath (I Kings, xvii); but in modern times such a practice has been abandoned. Again, if a person had to choose between certain death, if he refused a duel, and possible death, if he consented to a duel, it would seem that he is in the position of one attacked by an unjust aggressor; but it is not easy to picture such a case as happening in normal conditions.
Boxing has only a small part in common.
1428. Fighting.—Fighting is an angry conflict between two or more persons carried on by means of physical violence.
(a) Thus, it is an angry conflict, and so differs from contests of strength or skill made for the sake of sport, amusement, recreation, health, exercise and training. Hence, wrestling and boxing matches, football games, fencing and similar athletic contests, in which fair play and a sportsmanlike spirit prevail, are not fighting as here understood. Similarly, the tournaments of the medieval knights were sports or spectacles, rather than fights.
(b) It is a conflict, and so differs from punishment inflicted by lawful authority, as when a police officer uses his club to prevent a crime, a parent or teacher chastises insubordinate children, or a sober man scuffles with an inebriate to take away his flask or with a lunatic to deprive him of a weapon.
Now, boxing is not sinful in itself, but it is perfectly possible, perhaps common, for those to sin in participating in it or watching it, just like any other sport.
Topic: Is professional boxing duelling? (Read 640 times)