Why are boxers considered athletes if all they do is punch each other?

I disagree. I've practiced most sports and while I had a had a great deal of respect for boxing prior to actually doing it, it was nothing like the respect that I had afterwards. I've run everything from 100m to the marathon and have not felt the exhaustion in any event like I did in boxing but as where if I slowed down in running and the consequence would be losing the race, in boxing it would be getting hit in the face. Yes, you and I can throw punches, the point is avoiding them. I'm not quite sure why you chose to simplify boxing, I mean running is just putting one foot in front of another while running around in a circle and you can make all sports seem that simplistic.