Boxing : Medical concerns

Medical concerns

Knocking a person unconscious or even causing concussion may cause permanent brain damage. There is no clear division between the force required to knock a person out and the force likely to kill a person. Since 1980, more than 200 amateur boxers, professional boxers andToughman fighters have died as the result of ring or training injuries Thus, in 1983, the Journal of the American Medical Association called for a ban on boxing. The editor, Dr. George Lundberg, called boxing an "obscenity" that "should not be sanctioned by any civilized society." Since then, the British, Canadian and Australian Medical Associations also have called for bans on boxing.

Supporters of the ban state that boxing is the only sport where hurting the other athlete is the goal. Dr. Bill O'Neill, boxing spokesman for theBritish Medical Association, has supported the BMA's proposed ban on boxing: "It is the only sport where the intention is to inflict serious injury on your opponent, and we feel that we must have a total ban on boxing." In 2007, one study of amateur boxers showed that protective headgear did not prevent brain damage, and another found that amateur boxers faced a high risk of brain damage.

In 1997, the American Association of Professional Ringside Physicians was established to create medical protocols through research and education to prevent injuries in boxing.

Professional boxing is forbidden in Norway, Iceland, Cuba, Iran and North Korea. It was banned in Sweden until recently when the ban was lifted but strict restrictions, including four three-minute rounds for fights, were imposed.