Beginning of the end for boxing? Another death...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/50066825

I have said it should have been outlawed for years to be honest, but the human toll is now really picking up as athletes have access to better nutrition, muscle and power building etc.

Very sad for the family.

Perhaps they need to introduce those training helmets into competitive matches or something but too many are now dying or suffering serious brain injuries as a result of punches to the head.

Actually, there is some evidence that the headgear worn in amatuer bouts does not act to protect the brain. It still bounces around in the skull. There is also some suggestion that gloves add to the force of the punch as well and the best thing to do would be to go back to bare-knuckle fighting. The problem with that is that there would be a lot more blood because the head and face would receive blows from (relatively sharp) knuckles. However, punching with a bare-fist requires boxers to pull their punch in comparison with a strapped fist in a glove. And also not to  hook´ their punches. Otherwise boxers are more like to suffer broken bones in their hands.  

The consensus is that women would be put off watching bare knuckle fighting with the blood, although otherwise a sensible proposal, and the sports revenues would decline further

 Both Jerry Quarry and Ali went on too long 

George Foreman and Earnie Shavers are fine

Thing with bare knuckle boxing (or even going over to UFC style gloves which is probably more realistic) is that the fights will need to be much shorter. You can't go 15 rounds without gloves.  It will be a blood bath and the fighters hands would be utterly fvcked.  

Maybe now people are used to UFC that would work but it would be a massive commercial departure for boxing that is used to a model of relatively infrequent big fights with (from a TV perspective at least) a single fight being an event in itself.

The fights will be much more technical/cagey as well.  Not sure that necessarily makes brilliant telly (although UFC in similar in some ways and has made it work).

Barbaric and outdated, but Phenomenally skilful and great training. 

And Hanners is right about the bloodlust, but it crosses genders. 
For a ban to succeed you need to convince people to renounce quite basic elements of their nature that even a lot of so called educated people embrace.

But I don’t watch it, it makes me sick tbh.

The boxers themselves are.  It’s outdated and has caused the death of at least five pros this year already.  Watch this space because something has to change.

 

Was watching the Joe Frazier / Quarry fight on Youtube recently 

Referee Joe Louis let the fight go on far too long, and Frazier, realizing the fight should have been stopped, mercifully held back on the punches towards the end. Other boxers would not have

Not a pretty sight, and doubtless contributed to Quarry's early death

 

 

What lefty said re helmet and gloves not preventing (and in the case of gloves perhaps being part of the cause - allowing a boxer to punch much harder without injuring their hand).

See eg NFL head injuries (a class action is running iirc).

I bliming love watching boxing.  A great sport, great skill and fitness and has rescued a lot of tearaways by giving them a focus.

If people want to do it and know the risks then it’s their call.  Banning it will most likely increase the number of illegal bouts with no ringside doctors, etc. as there’s already a thriving illegal bare knuckle circuit.

Rescuing tearaways is great and all, but it does make me think of the whole “poor people being paid to, yaknow, kill each other for the entertainment of rich people” thing...

 

Repeated blows to the head are not going to be healthy even if they don’t die in the ring itself, they are clearly going to suffer long term implications, just like in the NFL.  Worse than the NFL.

Footballers heading the ball causes head injuries that aren’t detected for years and that’s a lot less impact than being punched in the face 20 times by a professional boxer.

Teclis

17 Oct 19 09:43

Rescuing tearaways is great and all, but it does make me think of the whole “poor people being paid to, yaknow, kill each other for the entertainment of rich people” thing...

=

Yeah, only the rich follow boxing.

There's already a lot of unregulated/non circuit/white collar boxing about and different regulators most of whom adopt far lower standards than the British Boxing Board of Control.

You can ban it if you like but it will be counterproductive as people will still box, just in a less safe less regulated environment.