Will we live to see boxing banned?

[Beanflicker]

I'm not asking whether it should be or not; obviously a boxing forum isn't going to provide unbiased data.

I was reading an article a few days ago where the writer called for a ban on boxing, citing of course the Abdusalamov incident.

It's time for New York to give up the fight and ban boxing - NY Daily News

He brings up a lot of interesting points. What we've learned about the effects of head injuries and concussions over the last 10 years or so has been a real eye opener. We've become more aware and sympathetic to the dangers of brain trauma and those suffering with aquired brain injuries.

The big argument you see from boxing and MMA fans is "well, football/hockey/ect is dangerous too and they are accepted". But the fact is, in no other sport (besides MMA) is the main, primary objective to give somebody a brain injury.

No matter how much you go on about the beauty of the sweet science, the technique, the art, the discipline, ect, at the end of the day the main purpose of all of that is to knock another man unconscious.

We live in a very sensitive culture now adays: all you hear is "bully this, bully that", or somebody getting fired because they said something insensitive that offended some group.

Will we get to the point where our culture rejects this brutal sport where the object is to smash someone's brain?

[Silkeyjoe]

No - we will not live to see boxing banned globally.

[Max Power]

We now have MMA which may or may not result in higher health problems in the long term for participants (boxing involves exclusive blunt trauma so possibly leads to the highest issues) but definitely would produce more immediate injuries/conditions resulting from the fighting.

Were boxing to be banned, I would think MMA would have to be banned first.

My opinion is boxing is still the most popular of all the fighting sports, even in America and especially worldwide and has the most Western heritage. It is immensely popular with the new age health revolution and generates billions of dollars annually.

Boxing is never going anywhere. Combat sports are the most purest form of direct competition and boxing is the one which requires the fastest reflexes, timing and swiftness of all of them. It is a part of human nature to enjoy it and be interested in it, no matter the risks for society and individuals.

[bradlee180]

I've amazed that prizefighting, both Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts, are legal at all in any civilized nation.

It's legalized assault, perpetrated in front of millions of screaming eye witnesses.
Many viewers have been witness to the televised beating that killed a man or maimed them for life.
For the fighters who avoid that kind of tragedy, their damage manifests itself down the road in middle age with neurological damage, post-concussion syndrome, early onset Alzheimers disease, parkinsons, kidney failure, depression... and with 95% of Boxers never having made any serious money for their damaged bodies and minds.

But money talks in a capitalist society.
Worldwide, the people demand combat-sports, and fighters make their choice to risk their health and life every time they get in the ring.

Boxing is a global sport with about 20 thousand pro fights each year. God only knows how many amateur bouts each year. At the London 2012 Olympics, 79 countries sent Boxing teams; Boxing will NEVER be banned everywhere. The same does not apply to MMA though.

Y'know just last week, the concussion law suit against the National Hockey League was all over the news. Originally 10 former NHL players started the suit, but the list has grown to include over 200 former players, all seeking damages for concussion-related health problems, and that the league knowingly put them at risk.

With concussed football players and hockey players suing leagues for hundreds of millions of dollars, what about a business where the whole point is concussions?

[boyla]

It has been banned before in certain countries, only to be overturned.
While one country can ban boxing, not all countries could ban it.
They can not stop internet piracy.
They can not stop underage drinking.
They can not stop drug use.
They can not stop murders.
They tried the vast failure which was prohibition.

[Violent Demise]

I'm not asking whether it should be or not; obviously a boxing forum isn't going to provide unbiased data.

I was reading an article a few days ago where the writer called for a ban on boxing, citing of course the Abdusalamov incident.

It's time for New York to give up the fight and ban boxing - NY Daily News

He brings up a lot of interesting points. What we've learned about the effects of head injuries and concussions over the last 10 years or so has been a real eye opener. We've become more aware and sympathetic to the dangers of brain trauma and those suffering with aquired brain injuries.

The big argument you see from boxing and MMA fans is "well, football/hockey/ect is dangerous too and they are accepted". But the fact is, in no other sport (besides MMA) is the main, primary objective to give somebody a brain injury.

No matter how much you go on about the beauty of the sweet science, the technique, the art, the discipline, ect, at the end of the day the main purpose of all of that is to knock another man unconscious.

We live in a very sensitive culture now adays: all you hear is "bully this, bully that", or somebody getting fired because they said something insensitive that offended some group.

Will we get to the point where our culture rejects this brutal sport where the object is to smash someone's brain?

Fuck that writer. He doesn't bring up any interesting points. Just a bunch of nonsense.

[TitoFan]

We now have MMA which may or may not result in higher health problems in the long term for participants (boxing involves exclusive blunt trauma so possibly leads to the highest issues) but definitely would produce more immediate injuries/conditions resulting from the fighting.

Were boxing to be banned, I would think MMA would have to be banned first.

My opinion is boxing is still the most popular of all the fighting sports, even in America and especially worldwide and has the most Western heritage. It is immensely popular with the new age health revolution and generates billions of dollars annually.

Boxing is never going anywhere. Combat sports are the most purest form of direct competition and boxing is the one which requires the fastest reflexes, timing and swiftness of all of them. It is a part of human nature to enjoy it and be interested in it, no matter the risks for society and individuals.

Going point. Banning boxing while leaving a sport untouched where it's ok to keep punching an unconscious, prone opponent..... doesn't make any sense at all.

[Master]

Never they would just make the game safer before it was ever banned.

[smashup]

New York banned UFC before so never say never but the city has a huge boxing history so it'd be a shame if they did.

[IamInuit]

I'm not asking whether it should be or not; obviously a boxing forum isn't going to provide unbiased data.

I was reading an article a few days ago where the writer called for a ban on boxing, citing of course the Abdusalamov incident.

It's time for New York to give up the fight and ban boxing - NY Daily News

He brings up a lot of interesting points. What we've learned about the effects of head injuries and concussions over the last 10 years or so has been a real eye opener. We've become more aware and sympathetic to the dangers of brain trauma and those suffering with aquired brain injuries.

The big argument you see from boxing and MMA fans is "well, football/hockey/ect is dangerous too and they are accepted". But the fact is, in no other sport (besides MMA) is the main, primary objective to give somebody a brain injury.

No matter how much you go on about the beauty of the sweet science, the technique, the art, the discipline, ect, at the end of the day the main purpose of all of that is to knock another man unconscious.

We live in a very sensitive culture now adays: all you hear is "bully this, bully that", or somebody getting fired because they said something insensitive that offended some group.

Will we get to the point where our culture rejects this brutal sport where the object is to smash someone's brain?

I think you have really touched on something here. This world gets more and more coddled from helmets in the sandbox to cars that park themselves. Soon you wont even have to know how to drive.
Some younger generations who base their world on what their gadget says are confused by a lone chair in the middle of a hallway. Somehow moving it or walking around it is a foreign concept. We have turned into a micromanaged species on a micro level. They are dumbing us down to the point of problem solving brain collapse. That is the brain damage the powers at be should be worried about.

Devolution. A 140 character world full of anagrams and nonsense reality tv.

Boxing may fall victim to the over protected nanny state western world we live in. This new risk and reward twist is helping it along. I can honestly see championship fights being reduced to 10 then 8 rounds and fighters wearing 1 pound mitts and maybe even dare I say head gear. Britain isn't helping things with all of their 4 round prize fighting tourneys. In fact they are laying down the ground work. With any luck, I'll be in an old folks home by then suffering from dementia and watching reruns of Kojak.

[Max Power]

I don't think fights will drop from 12 rounds. I think 12 is optimum for a prize fight. It's enough to play out the tactical gameplans of professional boxers yet short enough to allow an explosive event without too much energy conservation.

10 and 9 or 8 round championship fights don't have the same ring as 12 does.

[TitoFan]

I don't think they'll drop championship fights below 12 rounds, either. Good fights have ebbs and flows. Ten rounds just aren't enough time for some of those to fully develop. But probably the biggest reason is that many fighters are notoriously slow starters and don't even get going until the middle rounds. This would drastically alter their fight strategies, and pose an unfair disadvantage to them.

[Max Power]

Yeah agreed, it would be a low point if they ever did that. Definitely don't want to move the sport closer to amateur boxing system.

I think maybe they should adjust the weigh ins system. I believe they should weigh in something like 24hrs prior to fight time or something.

The way it is atm the fighters starve and dehydrate massively to just make a weight and then pig out and drink their way somethimes up to 20lbs heavier than they were supposed to be. These days the actual weight ranges are a whole division out of tune. The welterweights are really the middleweights of yesteryear and so forth. Maybe not same day weigh ins but something closer to 24hrs seems logical to me.

[TitoFan]

Yeah agreed, it would be a low point if they ever did that. Definitely don't want to move the sport closer to amateur boxing system.

I think maybe they should adjust the weigh ins system. I believe they should weigh in something like 24hrs prior to fight time or something.

The way it is atm the fighters starve and dehydrate massively to just make a weight and then pig out and drink their way somethimes up to 20lbs heavier than they were supposed to be. These days the actual weight ranges are a whole division out of tune. The welterweights are really the middleweights of yesteryear and so forth. Maybe not same day weigh ins but something closer to 24hrs seems logical to me.

Weigh-ins are the joke of boxing. Weight divisions were made to level the playing field with regards to size. But when someone like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. routinely comes in at 30 pounds over his opponent, by either breaking the rules, or bending them to almost the point of breaking..... it makes a mockery of the sport.

[Max Power]

30lbs! Christ! That's outrageous! In reality then the natural difference between a fighter at the low end of the scale and one at the upper could be enormous. That's not right ey. Who came up with this idea and did they not consider the implications when they did?