What dangerous sports are popular in Mexico?

Answer 1

The "official" national Mexican sport is the Charreada or Charreria, which is the original rodeo developed in Mexico based on the working practices of charros or working hands. It is obviously a dangerous sport, as handling big, often scaried animals can result in injury and even death.

There are other sports played in Mexico, however. some of them are more dangerous than others: Mexican sport is known for its boxing tradition, including International Boxing Hall of Fame members such as Ruben "El Puas" Olivares (1991), Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez (2006) or Jose "Pipino" Cuevas (2002).

Due to historic reasons (Mexico was once a colony of Spain), Bullfighting is widely engaged. It has lost many followers due to international criticism on animal cruelty, but is still popular among tourists and many nationals alike.

A popular sport followed by many Mexicans is professional Wrestling, or "Lucha Libre", with many international stars including El Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras.

Finally, the Mesoamerican ball game, played by Aztecs and Mayas some 3,000 years before contact with Europeans was made. It was a game similar to Racquetball or volleyball, where the object was to keep a solid rubber ball in play. In formal games, the losing team members were sacrificed to the ancient Mesoamerican gods. Due to the extremely brutal game mechanics - even without the human sacrifice - it is now played just for representation purposes.

Answer 2

The most dangerous sport in Mexico is luchaball. It is a combination of American football, wrestling, and extreme laser tag. About 12 luchaball related death cases are reported every year.