Dangers of Boxing

I have posted this in the Health forum but I would like to know what you boxers think..

I have heard that many professionals (doctors) consider boxing to be very dangerous due to the number of blows boxers take to the head. Is this true at all levels of boxing? More specifically, does the damage occure after years of blows (ie. knockout punches) or does the damage occure from one well placed or should I say poorly placed punch?
Some contact to the head (face) is a part of many martial arts. At what point should one become concerned with the amount of punnishment they are taking? We are told to suck it up and have a good chin. At some point this must work against us.



ttt

Drs would like to ban everything that makes their job harder if they could, it doesnt mean theyre right.

ttt

Her in Australia i have never heard of any Amatuer fighter getting head injuries!!!
Also just a bit of other new here in Australia, 3 jockys have dies here in the last past few month from falls in races! Very sad new but havent heard the medical assiciation say anything about banning hores racing!!! Also must say in the same period no boxer or any kind has died in the ring here!!!

Amatuer boxing is not that dangerous unless you are constantly sparring professionals.

do most boxers have brain damages when they retire?

I think there are boxers who retire fine. My 1st boxing coach retiered from boxing to become a very well respected business man. He wa an Australian Champ and he was fine, but he also boxed and taught the art of hitting and not being hit!!!

I think there are boxers who retire fine. My 1st boxing coach retiered from boxing to become a very well respected business man. He wa an Australian Champ and he was fine, but he also boxed and taught the art of hitting and not being hit!!!

Getting beat up for a living can't be helpful to anyone's health, but it really depends on the level of punishment. If they get medical checkups throughout their career, they'll know when to retire. If the referees and ringside doctors do their jobs, then there shouldn't be any boxing tragedies or brain damaged fighters.

Unfortunately, there are incompetent idiots, such as Arthur Mercante Jr., who let fighters take unnecessary punishment. He let Michael Bennett repeatedly bang away at some poor bum for a unreasonable amount of time. Any other ref would have stopped the fight, but Mercante Jr let Bennett hit the guy about 8 more times, including a shot in the throat, which could have been a disaster. Mercante Jr. was also responsible for the George Jones vs. Beethaven Scottland tragedy. You think Mercante Jr would have learned something for his father. And those doctors left Scottland in the ring for about a half an hour before taking him to the hospital. What are they, retarded? Maybe if he got proper medical care in time, he'd be alive today

ttt

Yes, lots of boxers have brain damage when they retire. Not all of them are as scarred as Ali, but 75% of retired boxers past the 10yr mark of their career...their wives have noticed a change in the cognitive abilities. Every blow leaves it's mark internally.

(IE LEARN TO BOX IN A CLOSET)

Boxing has a wierd kind of irony. Part of you wants the fight to keep going while part of you wants the ref to step in. For example the first GAtti/Ward fight ..there was several points that I remember that the ref might could have stepped in. But b/c he didn't we had the best fight I can remember. Pro boxing isn't the safest sport to do, but these guys know that going in.

i seriously doubt you've ever really boxed, i think your a poser.

You remind me of the younger white guy that commetates fights on HBO, the one that George is always a smartass to

ET, Ali has Parkinsons, nothing to do with boxing. AS for the '75% of retired boxers have brain damage' remark, do you actually have any proof?

why would dr.s care to ban things that they make money off...

Bradley Stone, James Murray, Jacob Greenwalt, Jimmy Garcia, Lance Hobson. Names familiar in the world of boxing and beyond. To this list can also be added the names of at least 46 others who gave their lives in the name of boxing. Think also of the thousands injured over the years. The pitiful images of these men who have had their dreams of fame shattered along with their brains.
Boxing is unique in the world of sport in that the main objective is to blast your opponents brain with so many blows to the skull that the victim either loses consciousness or else becomes so disorientated that he can no longer continue. The ultimate aim in this barbarous sport is to leave your opponent lying senseless on the canvas.
The fact that boxing is dangerous is beyond question. Neurosurgeons have calculated that a bout involves a boxer's skull being repeatedly pounded with the force of a 10 pound hammer at speeds of up to 20 m.p.h.Every punch landed on a boxer's head causes the brain to suffer another trauma. Imagine the typical boxer's nose. In most boxer's careers, he has suffered several fractures of the nose. He can recover from a broken nose. He may possibly be able to breathe through it again but he has almost certainly lost his sense of smell and has definitely got a very scarred and misshapen nose.

Now picture similar injuries being deliberately inflicted on the brain.

Dr. Jeff Cundy of the BMA has studied the effects of blows to the head on the brain and says that time is now up for the sport. 25 - 30% of boxers nearing the end of their career develop the 'punch-drunk syndrome' consisting of intellectual deterioration, loss of memory, slurred speech and difficulty in walking. Death occurs some 10 to 15 years earlier than average. These figures are also true of amateur boxing. Joseph Stricklen was only 15 years old when he died from a haemorrhage following a fight. Others have been beaten within an inch of their lives and have spent months in a coma. The brutality of boxing is not to be encouraged in the light of overwhelming evidence that brain damage and physical disabilities are the most likely outcome for a lot of fighters.


Mind the jab, or get fed baby food after age 55



ttt for a very scary thread