This groundbreaking collection explores how the threat and reality of death shape the culture, business, and ethics of the ring.
This interdisciplinary volume critically examines the persistent presence of death in combat sports-boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling-and its broader cultural, ethical, and sociopolitical implications. Drawing on perspectives from history, sociology, philosophy, media studies, and public health, contributors interrogate how the threat and reality of death shape the moral frameworks, institutional structures, and symbolic meanings of these sports.
This book reevaluates ethical critiques of combat sports, considering both the risks of physical harm and the social marginalization of athletes. Through historical case studies, theoretical inquiry, and cultural analysis, Death in the Ring positions death not merely as a tragic outcome but as a revealing lens through which to understand the values, contradictions, and transformations of combat sports in society. Essential reading for scholars of sport studies, cultural history, ethics, and media.

C. Nathan Hatton is Assistant Professor of History in the Department of Humanities at Cape Breton University, Canada. He was a contributor to The Palgrave Handbook of Sport, Politics and Harm.
David M. K. Sheinin is Professor of History at Trent University, Canada. His most recent co-edited book is The Statues and Legacies of Combat Athletes in the Americas.
Cesar R. Torres is Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology and Sport Studies at the SUNY Brockport, USA. He has since joined the faculty at The Pennsylvania State University's Department of Kinesiology. Kinesiology. Torres is a former president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS), the founding president of the Asociación Latina de Filosofía del Deporte (ALFiD), and a former vice-president of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE). He is also a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology of the United States.