The dark side of boxing: + Sports photos of the week.

                                                               

Sometimes sport turns nasty, and few tread the line between heroic and horrific as dangerously as boxing. Over the last week there were two fights which left fighters particularly bruised and battered in ways which were captured in quite alarming fashion by the cameras.

Enzo Maccarinelli was left with an appalling swollen eye with even his cheek puffed out and out of position during his fight against Jurgen Braehmer, yet he was somehow allowed to continue before eventually losing to the WBA light-heavyweight champion in Germany.
                                        Meanwhile, WBC flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi of Japan knocked out Mexican challenger Odilon Zaleta on Sunday to retain his title after a close fight which left both men with horribly swollen faces. Is it brave or stupid; admirable or lamentable?