Ruling on Boxing
Question

                My local mosque is thinking about setting up boxing classes. I wanted to know whether this is permissibile. The reason being that is there not a hadith of the Prophet (SAW) where he sees two men wrestling/ sparring and he tells them to avoid the face for we have been created in the likeness of Adam (AS)? 
According to this, is it mub'ah to practice boxing with another brother and hit one another in the face?
Praise be to Allah.The Islamic sharee’ah permits all things that are beneficial 
          to the body and do not harm it, and it forbids all things that may cause 
          damage or harm to the body. The Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Your body has rights 
          over you.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab 
          al-Sawm, 1839)  
If sports are free from things which are forbidden 
          in sharee’ah, then practising those sports is beneficial. Boxing is 
          an ancient sport that was practised by the Greeks.  
Boxing is the worst 
          kind of sport, and probably it does not even deserve to be called a 
          sport, despite the fact that western nations, in particular – where 
          boxing is widespread at a professional level – call it “the noble sport” 
          and a form of self-defence. They forget, or overlook, the fact that 
          the main aim of boxing is to harm one's opponent and throw him to the 
          ground, preferably with the “decisive blow” (or “knock-out”), as they 
          call it, which is the highest level of victory in boxing.  
“Many voices have been 
          raised in the parliaments of many countries demanding a ban on professional 
          boxing, in view of the harm that has been caused to many boxers. Sweden 
          has succeeded in imposing such a ban, whilst many other nations have 
          failed to do so, despite the many injuries, and even deaths, caused 
          to many professional boxers as a direct result of this violent sport. 
          
 The fact of the 
          matter is that the deaths of so many boxers is the reason for many voices 
          calling for an end to this sport, or at least the imposition of strict 
          rules to limit its violence.”  (From Huna 
          London magazine, issue # 413, March 1983).  
Dr. Roger Whirty, the spokesman of the British Medical 
          Council in Wales, spoke of the aims of the Council’s campaign against 
          boxing: “We want to show everyone that boxing is an extremely dangerous 
          sport, not only because of the increasing number of fatalities, but 
          also because of the disabilities which affect many more times that number. 
          In order  to achieve that, we are trying to put pressure on various 
          official bodies to condemn this sport, and not to consider it to be 
          a sport at all. I reiterate once again that the danger of this sport 
          lies in the harm caused to hundreds of boxers as a result of the disabilities 
          that they suffer.  
The number of boxers who have died as a result of injuries 
          sustained in boxing between 1945 and 1983 is three hundred and fifty.” 
          (From Huna London 
          magazine, issue # 413, March 1983).  
The Islamic attitude towards this sport:  
The principles of Islam 
          are completely opposed to the idea of the ummah accepting this dangerous 
          deviation as a moral or intellectual trend which would permit such violent 
          fights between members of the ummah or of the human race as a whole. 
          
 Among these principles 
          we may list the following:   
1.Harm. We have already mentioned the harm and danger to human 
          life involved in this sport, and the testimony of western specialists 
          who are motivated by their humanitarian feelings to fight and strive 
          to eliminate boxing from the international sporting lexicon. 
2.Violating the sanctity of the face. Boxing is based on allowing 
          punches to the face of one's opponent using the maximum force that one 
          possesses. Blows to the face earn more points than blows to any other 
          part of the body. This clearly goes against the teaching of the Prophet 
           (peace and blessings of Allaah 
          be upon him), as narrated by Abu Hurayrah: “When any one of you fights, 
          let him avoid (striking) the face.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, 
          5/215). 
Al-Haafiz said: “This prohibition also 
          includes all those who are struck for the purpose of hadd 
          or ta’zeer punishments 
          or discipline. According to the hadeeth narrated by Abu Bakrah and others, 
          which was recorded by Abu Dawood and others, about the woman who had 
          committed adultery, the Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded that she should 
          be stoned to death, and said, ‘Stone her, but avoid the face.’ (Narrated 
          by Abu Dawood, 4/152). If that is the command in the case of one who 
          is being punished and is going to die anyway, then the rule is even 
          more applicable in cases of lesser severity.” See al-Fath, 
          5/216 
Al-Nawawi said: “The scholars said: 
          it is forbidden to strike the face because it is soft and all of a person's 
          beauty and most of his senses are located there. If the face is hit, 
          there is the fear that all or some of them may be destroyed or disfigured. 
          Any defect in the face is a terrible thing because it is so prominent 
          and obvious, and usually the person who is hit in the face will not 
          be spared some disfigurement.” (al-Fath, 
          5/216).
 In 
          al-Fath, he says concerning 
          the specific prohibition narrated in the hadeeth: 
“Al-Nawawi did not discuss the details of this prohibition. 
          It is clear that it is haraam, and this is supported by the hadeeth 
          of Suwayd ibn Maqran al-Sahaabi, that the Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) saw a man slap a slave (or 
          a boy) in the face, and he said, “Do you not know that the face is inviolate?” 
          (Muslim, 3/1280.