The Boxing Episode: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''' KOWALSKI''': Logic! Exactly! Boxing has nothing to do with logic. It is sport taken to its purest nut. It is muscles, sweat, guts, torque, load . . . I mean, you ever meet a logical person who would bite off another man's ear?

 

Largely associated with [[Mystery of the Week]] television series, this is an episode that is wholly or in part structured around the sport of boxing. These episodes tend to crop up most often in [[Action Series|action/adventure]] and [[Crime and Punishment Series|crime solving series]], but they can also be played for laughs in [[Half-Hour Comedy|sitcoms]].

 

{{examples}}

* One of the early episodes of ''[[Digimon Savers]]'' involved the [[Monster of the Week]] interfering with Touma's idol's boxing matches. However, he had been shown to be a proficient boxer before this episode, and his Digimon partner wears boxing gloves, so this didn't come ''entirely'' out of nowhere...

* An episode of ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' involved Batou investigating a famous boxer suspected of criminal activity.

* There was a boxing-themed ''[[Hellraiser]]'' comic called "The Sweet Science". It was kind of stupid.

 

* ''[[Skippy the Bush Kangaroo]]'' has an episode where boxers set up a training area in the part. It ends up in showing [[Boxing Kangaroo|Skippy wear boxing gloves]] though she never actually boxes.

* The ''[[Police Squad!]]'' episode "Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)" plays this for laughs.

* In the ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' episode ''The Softer They Fall'', Kinchloe boxed against a German ([[Those Wacky Nazis|Those Wacky Nazis']]) as (naturally) part of a scheme to divert attention from a heist.

* ''[[Happy Days]]'': Ralph boxes another boy for the hand of a girl. Only one problem: he doesn't know how to box. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KLwlnsX4IA Link.] In a much later episode [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsIisgbwI6U we see Chachi in the ring too.]

* ''[[Bones]]'' and Booth fly to Las Vegas to investigate a murder, and discover a women's underground MMA fighting ring.

* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'', with kickboxing.

** [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that real military culture has been known to adopt boxing in the past, but played straight in that {{spoiler|Roslin}} turns out to be a fan and knows a thing or two about it. With the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|Admiral, the Colonel, the CAG and most of the crew and pilots present and engaged]], [[Fridge Logic|one wonders what might have happened had the Cylons decided to attack right then]]...<ref>[[Truth in Television]] or not, is it really good for morale to have the ranking staff officer beat up by an enlisted man in front of the troops?</ref>

* ''[[NYPD Blue]]'' a couple of times: Martinez decides to enter the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160310095459/http://nypbc.com/ Smoker] and gets trained by Lieutenant Fancy (who beats him up pretty good during a friendly sparring match); several seasons later Detective Clark enters it too.

* ''[[Life On Mars]]'' investigated a boxing crime which led to ''Gene'' being implicated as the perpetrator.

* The [[Batman (TV series)|1960s Batman]] show had an episode where Batman had to fight [[Paper-Thin Disguise|The Riddler with a silly accent]] in a boxing match because... uh... [[Xanatos Roulette|I forget why]].

** ''[[Super Sentai]]'' has "hero gets beaten up by boxing monster and must learn boxing" as one of its stock plots.

* A couple of ''[[Three Stooges]]'' shorts. One early example is "Punch Drunks", when Curly becomes a boxer because of his [[Unstoppable Rage]] when he hears the tune "Pop Goes the Weasel".

* For a [[The Gay Nineties|1890s]] take, see the third episode of ''[[Murdoch Mysteries]]''.

* ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]]'': "Standing Eight Count". A boxer whom Dr. Jack Stewart idolized was framed for the murder of the boxer who beat him and turned down a rematch due to health issues.

* An episode of ''[[Punky Brewster]]'' had boxing champion Marvin Hagler showing Punky how to defend herself after a bully at school beats her up.

* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' had "The Bittersweet Science". A borderline psychotic wannabee boxer starts beating to death anyone who mocks him ("So I'm a punching bag, huh?!")

 

== Literature ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Is Ready to Rumble]]

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxing Episode, The}}

[[Category:The Boxing Episode]]