How Damaging Is Boxing?

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Boxing is one of the sports I don't agree with because I find it very aggressive and damaging. I understand that it's about fighting but when an athlete's goal is to hurt the other in order to win, that's not something I like, not support. I bet you've seen boxers after the match and you know how they look and judging from the look, you can guess how they feel.

These injuries are visible with the naked eye and heal in a certain period of time but there are those injuries that are permanent and can cause boxers huge problems, health issues. A few month ago I did a post about two boxers who died the same week. The 28 years old Russian Maxim Dadashev died on July 23, four days after the match while the 23 years old Argentine Hugo Alfredo Santillán died five days after the fight.

Manuel Velazquez has done a survey according to which 1,604 boxers died between 1890 and 2011, all of them as a direct result of injuries sustained in the ring. If you do the math, that's 13 boxers per year. Some with a mathematical mind may argue that this absolute number means nothing if it's not compared to the total number of boxers but I am contradicting them. Every life counts and if there's only one per year is too much and more than it should be. Sport should be an enjoyable activity and not a matter of life and death. Gladiator times are over, no one is forced to fight for his or her life in the ring.

Nicola Adams's case is another example (not that it's needed) of how dangerous boxing is. She's is a British former boxer who won two Olympic gold medals, one in London in 2012 and the other in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She won a gold at the World Championships in Astana in 2016, a European gold medal in Baku in 2015 and many other medals.

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She's 37 now and retiring because her doctor said further punches could irreparably and permanently damage her vision. The article I was reading earlier doesn't say if the condition is due to boxing but I bet it is. Once I've read a study about how those punches are affecting the brain long term even though it's not visible at that time.

Some people say boxing is an excellent sport, it can keep you fit, you can burn a lot of calories, improves your coordination and it can also keep young people out of the street. This is all true when you're punching a bag and not a human being. When you're harming the other one you can't claim any benefits.



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Nicola's injury was caused by boxing and then went undetected . I do like boxing but am happy to see our local hero, Nicola, retiring as World Champ and at the top.

I also wrote about boxing deaths briefly at the same time and agree that the loss of life is sad but it's a person's freewill as to whether they box or not.

I also mentioned how many died in Motorsports, winter sports and the worst of them all, all forms of Equestrianism.

Another great piece and I hope Ms E. Fit is healthy and happy :-)

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Then I was right suspecting she got injured during her boxing career. It's sad though as she could face serious problems in the future.
I agree, it's their choice but that doesn't make it right.
I ran a search regarding the most dangerous sports and they say all kinds of things, boxing, motorsports, bull fighting and bull running is also on the list, just like rugby and other sports. However, here in boxing two people are punching each other, hurting each other knowingly and that's different.
Thank you for the nice words, I'm fine thank you and I hope you're fine as well and life is treating you well :))

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