Violence is a powerful resource, and boxing is a legitimised version. This book aims to give the reader a powerful tale of legitimacy, and also a darker, more sinister version of illegitimate violence and the men who perpetrate it. I question common tropes that suggest boxing is a panacea for all social ills, and unpick the criminal justice responses to youth crime and the well-intended misgivings that boxing is the cure. Boxing is seen as a ‘male preserve’ (Dunning 1986), and policy makers and parents, as well as criminal justice agencies, believe that the structured disciplining environment of the gym is enough to combat criminogenic attitudes and violent behaviour. I dispel this myth. I propose that boxing is a convincing ‘hook for change’ (Giordano 2002), and the appeal of the gym is undoubtedly a powerful one. However, I suggest that more needs to be done to challenge the masculine discourses present within the gym environment, and I do this by revealing the fragility of these. I suggest that boxing's appeal is its ability to generate a defence against male anxiety and vulnerability, and that the environment itself is tailored to the prevention of repeat victimisation. In other words, the attendees are not just there to become boxers, they are there to sequester any form of male vulnerability and victimisation behind physical capital and gloved fists.

I begin with an outline of boxing, and how gyms are seen as sociological sites of research. I then go on to discuss briefly the method used in this monograph, and introduce psychosocial theories of desistance from crime. I present arguments surrounding boxing's appeal, as well as exploring what the gym actually offers, thus questioning its contribution towards desistance from crime. Through the use of case studies in Chapters 4–6, I suggest that boxing is not necessarily conducive to a process of desistance, and that in fact, it can compound violent attitudes and male domination. Employing psuedonyms to the pen portraits of men such as Frank, Eric and Leroy, I make claims that boxing's appeal lies in its ability to create physical capital, and allows for men to overcome structural and psychic obstacles that have impinged on their versions of successful masculinity.