the noble art (of self-defense)
The sport of boxing. Any two yahoos can get into a fistfight, but it takes real skill, dedication, and training to learn the noble art of self-defense. He spent most of his career training in the noble art before joining the world of mixed martial arts last year.
the noble art
boxing. chiefly archaic A fuller version of this phrase is the noble art (or science ) of self-defence .