Outlaw Governance examines two-hundred years of Western legal development associated with the highly contentious sport of boxing. Drawing on an extensive sample of reported legal cases from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, this volume demonstrates how the sport continues to evolve and generate enormous popularity despite considerable legal, medical and political resistance. This investigation shows how laws relating to crime, negligence, contract, public licensing and media regulation have been applied to the sport and its practitioners in each jurisdiction, often with a consistently restrictive and paternalistic focus. By using popular sporting narratives to give life to each legal dispute, this text provides a critical insight into the operation and limits of Western legal method which is accessible to any reader.