Boxers and wrongful-death lawsuits

Matthew Alice: In the bizarre world of boxing, occasionally a fighter will die from injuries received during the bout. From a legal standpoint, do boxers sign away their lives as a condition to get in the ring? — David Kubanis, San Diego

Literally? No. Figuratively? Well, it’s a risk boxers seem willing to take. The California Boxing Commission says athletes sign nothing before getting in the ring here, except the contract for the fight, presumably. But that’s a business deal with the promoters; any life-and-death bargains are made with powers even higher than Don King. From the snooping I’ve done, I couldn’t discover any “wrongful death”-type suits filed by a professional boxer’s survivors against his or her opponents, or any criminal charges being brought. Does a bullfighter’s widow sue the bull? (Of course, the fastest way to find out that something exists is to state in print that it doesn’t, so stay tuned.) The amateur world of boxing has seen some lawsuits against organizations (not opponents) for failure to provide adequate medical supervision for a fight. But in the pros’ world, most of the courtroom slugfests are over money, not blood.