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]].

 

Compare with [[Pro Wrestling Episode]] and the [[Forced Prize Fight]].

{{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>

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' had a late-season episode centering around Chakotay's recreational boxing, which apparently was causing brain damage—but actually something else was going on that explained his weird visions and blackouts. Also another episode where Seven and Tuvok are kidnapped to become gladiators.

* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'', "The Right Hand of God": Sam leaps into a boxer "owned" by a sisterhood of nuns. The episode reveals Al as something of a boxing aficionado, but it doesn't do Sam much good since holograms make poor boxing trainers.

* ''[[Leverage]]'' - "The Tap-Out Job", where Eliot poses as a MMA fighter as part of the heist, and the plot eventually leads to a (sort of) [[Forced Prize Fight]].

* Somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] in ''[[Highlander the Series]],'' since Mac seems to obsessively study every form of combat he comes across (with good reason).

* A boxer (Ben Murphy) arrives on ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' to clobber an opponant who beat him in the past.

* ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' got this one out of the way. In the first single-hour episode, "The Final Round", David befriends a boxer who is unwittingly delivering drugs and then is supposed to suffer a fatal heart attack during a fight. This was the first instance of Banner being conveniently being knocked out so that he doesn't Hulk out until later.

* ''[[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}}