In the world of boxing, talented boxers Simiso Buthelezi, Miracle Amaeze, and Luis Quiones are just a few of those who lost their lives this year while pursuing their sporting careers and world championship goals.
Risk for boxing athletes
It’s a recognized risk in the industry. An estimated 1,604 boxers died as a direct result of injuries they experienced in the ring between 1890 and 2011 according to a database first gathered by anti-boxing campaigner Manuel Velazquez and maintained in the Electronic Journal of Martial Arts and Sciences, or an average of 13 deaths a year.
For a professional sport, that statistic is astounding, but perhaps not entirely unexpected. As Stephanie Alessi-LaRosa, head of Hartford Healthcare’s sports neurology program, notes, a boxer’s goal in about is “to neurologically harm the opponent.”
Two famous sports that are dealing with the effects of concussions are the NFL and soccer, but the sport is dealing with them more than the other two.
Alessi-LaRosa describes the acute concussions that fighters experience when they are struck in the head as a “metabolic crisis” when a “functional disturbance of the brain” takes place. Constant blows to the head might have disastrous results.
In the middle of a battle earlier this year, South African lightweight boxer Buthelezi appeared to pivot away from his adversary and fight for a vacant area of the arena.
Prior to Buthelezi being taken to the hospital, the referee promptly called time on the fight. Days later, the South African boxer passed away. According to Alessi-LaRosa, boxing has made several improvements to make the sport safer, like lowering the overall number of rounds and adding sports neurologists.
She does, however, believe that more has to be done, particularly in terms of informing parents and fighters about the neurological effects of boxing.
According to Alessi-LaRosa, “I think if we can mandate – like the NFL has – these neurotrauma experts, or if we can demand somehow having a neurologist at every boxing – professional boxing at least – event, I think that would be a major step.”
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