Boxing and Brain Injury
On the 17th of September 2011, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz will face each other in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for the WBC Welterweight Championship. As the two athletes prepare, we will have a look at the brain injuries associated with the boxing sport.
Boxing carries the risk of many different injuries with it, some of them apparent immediately, others not until much later. Dementia Pugilistica is a condition that is also known as boxing dementia. It is neurological damage to the brain that occurs in those who receive regular blows to the head. Obviously, it is most common in boxers, but it does also occur in other sports where head injuries are common, such as rugby.
Due to Dementia Puglistica, many medical professionals are trying to ban boxing as a sport. It is caused by blows to the head that are not powerful enough to cause a concussion, but due to their repeated nature they do cause an enormous amount of damage to the brain.
Some famous boxers who have suffered from Dementia Puglistica include Jimmy Ellis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Frazier, Willie Pep, Jerry Quarry, Wilfred Benitez, Freddie Roach, Meldrick Taylor, Bobby Chacon, Floyd Patterson and many more.
When people think of brain injury caused by boxing, thoughts often immediately turn to Mohammed Ali, who suffers from Parkinson Syndrome. It is unclear as of yet whether or not this syndrome was caused by boxing in his case, and this will not be known until his death when an autopsy on the brain will be able to be performed.
Over 80% of boxers, both professional and amateur, have been shown to have some form of damage to the brain and it is unclear whether this damage may cause them health issues at a later stage in their lives. Follow Mayweather v Ortiz live and asses the high risk of injury in professional boxing!