Other than a few indoor sports, almost every game causes injuries and damages to the participants. We see players getting injured during the cricket, hockey, football, and others matches, but combat sports are at the top of the list.
In combat sports, the only motto of contenders is to hurt their opponents to win the game. Furthermore, the knockouts are more cheered by the fans as compared to the victories by decisions.
In games like Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts, continuous blows on the head and body lead to severe damages to the contenders. And those permanent damages are either shown during the career or after the retirement of a fighter.
So we know Boxing or MMA causes injuries, and the question is :
Is Boxing Dangerous for Brain? Or let me sum it up altogether; Are Combat Sports Dangerous for Brain? So the answer is a BIG YES, it takes the lives, let alone brain diseases and damages.
Boxing has taken several lives, and it has made a lot of fighters paralyzed for the rest of their lives.
List of boxing affected by dangerous on the brain
Frankie Campbell
He fought against Max Baer and got TKO in the 5th round. Soon after the knockout, he went into a coma state and died on the very next day due to brain injuries.
Jimmy Doyle
Sugar Roy Robinson saw a dream night before the fight that he killed Doyle during the boxing match, and that came true on the very next day when he actually did this in round 8. Doyle collapsed during the eighth round and died in the hospital.
Davey Moore
Moore dead in 1963 after his fight against Sugar Ramos. Ramos knocked him out, and Moore lost the life along with his featherweight title.
Furthermore, Patrick Day, Maxim Dadashev, Scott Westgarth, Mike Towell, Roman Simakov, and Kim Duk-Koo died from the injuries sustained during the fights.
There are a lot more to tell how dangerous professional combat sports are. Let’s come back to the point to discuss the Brain Decease and Damages caused by Boxing or MMA.
CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy on Boxing
One of the most dangerous brain damages caused by MMA and Boxing is CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy-, the main reason for suffering from this disease is reparative blows on the head.
CTE causes emotional instability, problems in thinking, depression, apathy, suicide attempt, and more symptoms like this. Before getting a medical name, the disease was known as, “Punch Drunk“.
Fighters affected CTE In Boxing andMMA:
Although many decades ago CTE was linked with fighting sports, the very first registered case appeared in 2012 when Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge; a former MMA fighter was diagnosed as a victim of CTE.
Abdulsalamov
He is suffering from brain damage, and he spent a long time in a coma state, right after his last fight, he was hospitalized, and later, it found that his brain has been injured badly. Now he is a disabled person due to the blood clotting caused by the punches on his head.
Adonis Stevenson
He faced almost the same problem after his KO loss to Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He sustained a brain injury and spent almost 40 days in a hospital. Now he is unable to fight and is not living like other normal people.
Joe Luise
One of the best heavyweight boxers, was also known to be suffering from CTE. Another big name, Sugar Ray Robinson, was also a victim of the same illness and was famous as Punch Drunk late in his career. And the reason is, brain injuries caused due to boxing.
Edwin Valero
A knockout artist (27-0) who suicide in jail after killing his wife, was also ill with head trauma. His brutal fights were the reason for this brain instability.
Chris Benoit, a famous wrestler and former world champion, who killed his wife and a son before committing suicide, was also affected by CTE. His brain cell test further showed that 4 lobes of his brain stem were damaged.
How to avoid Brain issues caused by Boxing or MMA?
Unfortunately, the answer is, WE CANNOT AVOID IT!!! until there are combat sports. We will keep seeing diseases and damages like CTE until the hurt business is on.
On the other hand, people love to watch knockouts, punch trading, brutal beatings, face-first knockdowns, jaw-breaking hooks, chin wrecking uppercuts, body damaging lever shots, blood bath, and knock out colds.
We know very well that Combat sports are “legal”, and spectators pay to watch these fights, and fighters, coaches, and promotions earn their livings, so we cannot avoid CTE and other brain-related illnesses in combat sports.
take a look How much money can a pro boxer make per fight?
So we came to know we cannot avoid Brain issues caused by Boxing or MMA but
Are there any remedies or cures for CTE?
The answer is NO!!
Unfortunately, medical science could not find the remedies for CTE yet, and once it affects a fighter’s brain, it grows day by day.
Is there any way we can save fighters damages during a fight?
The Answer is YES !!
We can do a little in this regard that can reduce the number of such incidents.
So here is what I suggest to avoid CTE and other brain injuries to fighters:
- Standing eight count and three knockdown rules should be revived in boxing and should be included in MMA as well.
- Coaches should not be hesitant to throw the towel once they see their fighters in front of the flurry of punches or strikes; instead of waiting for a strong comeback in the next round, they should stop the fight at the spot.
- Beating the fighter after a knockdown is not allowed in boxing, and the very same should be applied in other combat sports as well.
- Not even a single rabbit punch, low blow, and/or other illegal strikes should be tolerated by the referee, judges, and combat sanctioning bodies.
- Sanctioning bodies should legislate further to make combat sports as safe as possible.
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CONCLUSION
As we saw during the article the damage to the brain, during the match is a risk that the fighters experience every time that they go on the ring.
Is part of the fighting game, and every pro fighters know the risk that can occur during the match.
Anyway considering the numbers of the match disputed during the years the knows case of pro boxers affected of dangerous on the brain is very small.
