Renewed calls to ban boxing after death of Aussie fighter

[TitoFan]

If they're going to ban boxing (which they won't), they'd better ban MMA first.
At least in boxing the punches stop coming when the other guy falls down.

[Beanflicker]

If they're going to ban boxing (which they won't), they'd better ban MMA first.
At least in boxing the punches stop coming when the other guy falls down.

Both are brutal sports, but the logic is that there's less head trauma in MMA (in general) than boxing. If a guy gets knocked down in MMA, usually the opponent will jump on him and throw a few punches (usually not landing clean) and the ref will stop it, whereas if a boxer gets knocked down, he'll get 10 seconds to get up and clear his head to take more punishment. The bigger boxing gloves allow a fighter to take more concussive blows to the head without being knocked out (in comparison to smaller MMA gloves), and history shows guys really don't get killed with one punch or on a quick, brutal KO - like this case here, boxing tragedies always happen after prolonged punishment. But yeah, I think if you get rid of one you probably have to get rid of all combat sports.

Boxing is a brutal sport, there are real consequences to getting your brain rattled over and over, and it's always going to be a hard one for the general public to accept because it's one of the few sports where the objective is to give your opponent brain damage.

[walrus]

It's obvious here in the US boxing is making an admirable push to become network mainstream. It's a sport in what tragedies will undoubtedly take place. The first time something of the sort happens on network it does concern me what calls for change will come about. Will we see pros wearing headgear? I'm glad boxing is going network but it does concern me what movements will come about to make boxing safer.

[Beanflicker]

I don't think headgear makes it any safer if the new studies on concussions are correct.

I don't think you can make it safer. It's a relatively primitive sport and you're always going to have that kind of stuff happen now and again. I really don't think the push to ban boxing is going to have enough support, to be honest, unless it were to happen in a huge fight like Pac/Mayweather. People rally in big numbers when they have self interest in mind (i.e. is the activity a threat to them, is it corrupting their children, ect). Boxing violence just really isn't a hot topic.