I must confess. I am a boxing addict. I used to box when I was younger, not formally, but with my friends. And as a teen I got into plenty of fights, almost daily at one famous school. As I grew older, and my sports addiction grew, I followed boxing, especially the heavyweight championships religiously. I bet that I have seen the majority of Muhammad Ali's fights, even though most occured before I was born.
But as I grew older (and dare I say wiser), I came to realize the harm of the way of the pugilist. I was in California for a summer camp about 15 or so years ago, and a friend had brought gloves with him. He asked me if I wanted to spar with him. He was a bit larger than me, but I never turned down a challenge. I knew myself in the sense that I needed to get hit a couple of times before I became focused. So after a couple of nose shots from him, he swung, I dodged, and I followed through with right cross that caught him flush across his exposed face. Immediately, I felt bad. I may have hurt the guy. I dropped the gloves and apologized to him. He complimented me on the punch, and we both moved on. Thank God he was not hurt. There was no sense in some silly physical game resulting in injury to anyone.
As I watched more and more boxing during these years, especially in the lighter weight categories, I became more and more disgusted with the sport and with myself for watching it. When you watch two flyweights throw and land hook after hook and remain standing delirious yet opposed to each other, there is something wrong.
People used to always say that Muhammad Ali got parkinsons because of boxing. I used to always dispute that, especially in observing parkinsons in others, such as Michael J. Fox. But when Parkinsons hit my family, it hit home, and the causes of it became very important for me to investigate and discover. (For a while I even was suspicious of suffering from it myself).
The below article puts the spotlight on Freddie Roach, the famous boxing trainer who just coached Manny Pacquaio to another victory (yes I confess I did watch the fight). Mr Roach is himself a former boxer and a victim of parkinsons. The article begins with a reference to his brother's death (his former boxing partner). It goes on to discuss the other boxers he has seen deteriorate or have neurological disorders or symptoms, and his efforts to "protect" his fighters.
Now with the growth of MMA (I confess, I do follow it too), and even less protection and more possible damage to fighters (have you ever seen one fighter mount another and throw a barrage to the other's head?), the issue of these sports and the permanent damage they may cause needs to be looked at. The article briefly mentions some potential solutions that have been thrown out there for boxing(eg. no punching in the head, wearing headgear, etc). The challenge of facing another man in the ring is one that I enjoy doing and watching, but there must be limits and there must be measures to protect those involved. I would endorse following the example of amateur and olympic boxing - headgear, lesser number of rounds. It may not be an ideal solution for the purists, but lets start the discussion to come up with the solutions that we can collectively accept.
Freddie Roach determined to protect fighters like Manny Pacquiao - SI.com - Magazine
(PS. It's not just boxing, with the recent highlight on neurological issues for old football players and older studies on soccer players).
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