The Toughest Sport In The World Is . . .

[Reprinted from ESPN.com | Page 2 Article | "Sport Skills" |

We sized them up. We measured them, top to bottom. We've done our own Tale of the Tape, and we've come to a surprising conclusion. Pound for pound, the toughest sport in the world is . . .

Boxing. The Sweet Science.

That's the sport that demands the most from the athletes who compete in it. It's harder than football, harder than baseball, harder than basketball, harder than hockey or soccer or cycling or skiing or fishing or billiards or any other of the 60 sports we rated.

But don't take our word for it. Take the word of our panel of experts, a group made up of sports scientists from the United States Olympic Committee, of academicians who study the science of muscles and movement, of a star two-sport athlete, and of journalists who spend their professional lives watching athletes succeed and fail.

They're the ones who told us that boxing is the most demanding sport -- and that fishing is the least demanding sport.

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The Perfect Game of Chess

According to the Oxford dictionary “Chess is a board game for two players, the object of which is to put the opponent’s king under a direct attack, leading to checkmate”.

In other words the goal of chess is total annihilation of your opponent, to eliminate all hope and potential from their side of the board. One of the things that makes chess so unique from other board games is the fact that there are almost infinite number of positions that can arise in the quest for victory.

Consider this, after each player makes just one move there are 400 different positions possible! After 2 moves – about 72,000 positions possible. After 3 moves – 9 million. After 4 moves – 288 billion (yes, billion with a “b”) positions can arise on a chess boards. And the average chess game is around 40 moves! That translates into 10^50 legal positions in chess that are possible after 40 moves!