Muhammad Ali, probably the best boxer of all time, said, "Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up." Ali had it mostly correct. Now boxing includes Hispanic, Russian and Irish men beating each other up. To add insult to boxing injuries, the State of New York has agreed to pay $22 million to a Russian boxer who claimed that he was given poor post-fight medical care after he was beaten badly at Madison Square Garden. Taxpayers will be stuck with the tab for these injuries caused by the blood sport of boxing.
Boxing should be outlawed because:
- The sport is barbaric and no better than aggravated assault, which would be illegal in any other context. The fact that the participants are taking part voluntarily is irrelevant -- in some senses, boxing resembles dueling, which was a normal part of life for many years, but is now banned.
- There are injuries that occur accidentally in other sports, but in boxing causing a head injury in the form of a "knockout" to your opponent is the main objective.
- Professional boxing glamorizes violence and the concept of becoming rich and famous through physical aggression. This sends children and young adults the entirely wrong message, that violence is good and makes you rich.
"[Print titled Gladiators by Joel D. Joseph]
Boxing is the only sport that would be illegal if it were to take place outside of the ring.
Giclee Print, "Gladiators" by Joel D. Joseph available at www.PartisanArtisan.com.
The Medical Evidence
In the journal article entitled "Boxing -- Acute Complications and Late Sequalae," Hans Forstl, M.D. and his team of researchers in Germany reported that there have been an average of 10 boxing deaths per year since 1900. Of these deaths, over 80 percent were due to head and neck injuries suffered in the ring. These injuries included ruptures in brain blood vessels, epidural hemorrhages and subdural hematomas, in which bleeding occurs in the brain. In addition to permanent brain damage, noticeable cognitive deficits have been found in all boxers. According to the study by Forstl's team of researchers, a comparison of 82 amateur boxers found that those who had been knocked out performed significantly worse in visual-spatial and mathematics exercises afterward.
Researchers have found that severe traumatic brain injury in boxers has been linked to dementia pugilistica. This clinical syndrome has been linked to increased tau proteins in the brain, which are associated with dementia, Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's. Muhammad Ali suffered from Parkinson's Disease. He is perhaps the most famous example of the neurodegenerative issues present in ex-fighters.
According to Neurosurgery magazine (November, 2010), there were 339 mortalities between 1950 and 2007; 64% were associated with knockouts and 15% with technical knockouts. A higher percentage occurred in the lower weight classes. Nearly 90-percent of boxers suffer a brain injury of some extent during their career, according to the Association of Neurological Surgeons. The repeated hits to the head on a daily basis are terrible on boxers, and causes them to be prone to Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease later in their lives. "It is just repetitive trauma to the head -- like whiplash on a daily basis," Dr. Luis Villaplana, an Ohio doctor, explained. "The brain has very little space to move inside the skull. It is never good to have repetitive trauma on an incased organ. Even if you have strong neck muscles, the punches will take its toll."
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