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NO, we will never have another era such as the 1980’s, with Duran, Leonard, Hearns and Hagler; those days are over forever.CREDIT PICTURE PININTERESTWhy?Skilled athletes no longer choose boxing. There are less trainers, no great trainers, less fights, and greater knowledge of the brain damage which boxing inevitably brings.The future of boxing is that it will increase it’s decline to a minor niche sport.I strongly agree with my friend Keith Scott that unless we get real all time greats in the game, it will continue to slip away. And for a huge number of reasons, we are unlikely to ever get 4 fighters like Leonard, Duran, Hearns, and Hagler.Why?Boxing is in real trouble, and sliding down away for a number of reasons, but the seven best reasons are:there are fewer great athletes going into boxing; especially fewer skilled big men; most great athletes are choosing sports world wide that do not involve large men hitting them in the head, and which are not as dangerous overall;size does not mean skill; people mistake larger for better;there are far few good trainers, and the great trainers are a distant memory;there are fewer fights, so fewer opportunities to learn and develop;there are fewer African-American boxers as there are other opportunities, both in sports, and out of sports, than being punched in the head;there are too many sanctioning organizations, too many titles, too many warring promoters in bed with the sanctioning organizations, and the best fighters do not fight each other;the increasing evidence that boxing leads directly to brain damage and neural traumaSo let us discuss them all:There are fewer great athletes going into boxing, especially fewer big menEvery fighter and trainer alive agrees that the numbers of fighters, the far fewer great athletes boxing, especially in the higher weights, is proof that the best athletes, instead of picking boxing, as they did in Ali’s day, now pick other sports.CREDIT PICTURE KENTUCKY SPORTS RADIOEmmanuel Steward said of today’s bigger fighters, "they are nowhere near as skilled as the old fighters. All the good big men are in the NFL or NBA!" He went on to say that the money is so good in the NBA and NFL, which have medical coverage and a good pension plan to boot, that fighters like Foreman and Liston, would today be in other sports.Angelo Dundee said before he died, "the great heavyweights are gone. Lennox Lewis was the last great heavyweight you will see in your lifetime. These guys coming up just can't box!" Dundee reinforced what Manny Steward said, that “today’s big men are simply not as good athletes as their Golden Age predecessors.”CREDIT FOR QUOTES TO The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksThere are fewer fighters today compared to even 50 years agoThere are fewer fighters, fewer trainers, with less expertise fighting fewer fights, and not just in the US, but all over the world the totals are down.Fighters today fight far fewer rounds, box less in the gym, and simply do not learn the fundamentals of the game.By every metric that matters, the sport is far less healthy than it was 40-50 years ago. Those metrics include key indicators like the number of licensed fighters and the number of promoted events. Both are significantly lower than they were 50 years ago. In fact, both are significantly lower than they were in the 1930′s.Even counting the relatively greater popularity of the sport in England and Eastern Europe, there are still less fighters total, in the world, licensed to fight than there were in 1970, almost 50 years ago!There are less licensed trainers than there were 50 years ago!Fighters today fight far fewer fights, thus boxing infinitely fewer rounds, box less in the gym, and simply do not learn the fundamentals of the game, because practice makes perfect. Greater money for a single fight means fighters do not fight as much, and thus do not learn as much.There are also far fewer boxing events held. In addition, there are fewer fight clubs, licensed fighters, and licensed trainers today that in 1970, and in the US, fewer than even in 1930. Fewer boxers, fewer trainers, fewer events to box in, less training, less sparring, worse athletes - no wonder modern heavyweights especially are simply pitiful next to heavyweights from the past.CREDIT FOR ALL STATISTICS TO The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksThis era of fighters, especially heavyweights, is all time weak, skill wiseThe Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksIn this riveting book, Mike Silver point by point by the numbers shows the ongoing deterioration of boxers' skills, their endurance, the decline in the number of fights and the psychological readiness of championship-caliber boxers. The strengths and weaknesses of today's superstars are analyzed empirically and compared to those of such past greats as Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Liston, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Dempsey and Jake LaMotta - and the modern fighters simply do not stand up in the comparison.Fighters today fight far fewer rounds, box less in the gym, and simply do not learn the fundamentals of the game.There are fewer trainers, with less expertise fighting fewer fights.The numbers do not lie. Tyson Fury and Luis Ortiz are the only heavyweights in the top ten who actually can box! And Fury is coming off a near 4 year drink and drug binge, and Ortiz is at least 40! Oleksandr Usyk can actually box, but he is unproven as a heavyweight at this time.CREDIT FOR RECORDS TO The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksBigger does not mean better, except to fanboysThere are writers on here who know nothing of boxing, and who confuse size with skill.Boxing writer and historian, Frank Thomas, explains the difference between size and skill:"In the minds of some, size trumps all. Ergo, the Klitschkos [or Joshua] should defeat any other heavyweight who is not of similar stature. This gravely misunderstands the role of size in boxing, as amply demonstrated by yesteryear’s Primo Carnera, the Golden Age’s own Ernie Terrell, or modern fighters such as Nikolai Valuev and Lance Whitaker. In addition to height, it also misreads what “size” is.Many modern heavyweights are the same height as their 1970s counterparts, but pack twenty pounds or more of extra mass. Yet does that mass make them a better fighter? If it was earned by lifting weights, [or PED's] as is all too often the case, then the answer is no.Bulky muscles look impressive, but they do not help a fighter hit harder. Instead, they slow a fighter down and serve as useless bulk which must be hauled around the ring all night. Anyone who has trained using old school boxing methods is familiar with just how difficult it is to build good boxing muscle through weight lifting."Because fighters today are bigger, does not mean they are better. A physique like AJ's is useful if he is posing on a stage for Mr. Universe, and not a bit of help in the ring while a fat Mexican is pounding his huge posterior. His size helps him against boxers without the skill to actually box him.Ditto for Wilder - people ooh and ah about his being 6′7″ and knocking out 32 complete bums, and 5 journeyman - but he did not beat the only good fighter he faced.CREDIT Boxing writer and historian, Frank Thomas and The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksThe Great Trainers are a distant memoryTraining hasn’t improved in any way. If anything there are less qualified trainers than ever before. Joe Frazier commented in KO Magazine, March 1999, ‘These guys aren’t trained by real champions, by great ex-fighters.”The best trainers in history were fighters who knew all the secrets of the game. Rocky Marciano's trainer, Charley Goldman, claimed to have had over 300 pro fights. Jack Blackburn, Joe Louis’ trainer, was one of the great fighters of the turn of the century and had over 160 pro fights. He fought the likes of Joe Gans, Sam Langford, and Harry Greb. They learned to fight by fighting, and then by working with other great trainers.That level of experience is completely gone from the sport today.Ray Arcel, Hall of Fame Trainer, who learned himself from some of the greats, like Benny Leonard and Whitey Bimstein, noted right before his death, "Boxing is not really boxing today. It’s theater. Some kids might look good. But they don’t learn their trade. If you take a piece of gold out of the ground, you know its gold. But you have to clean it. You have to polish it. But there aren’t too many guys capable (today) of polishing a fighter.”And that is what the Never was a coach misses, that fundamentals and training are missing, and in the heavyweights, athletic ability. The sport used to get the best athletes - now it gets those who can't play football or basketball...Multiple sanctioning bodies leave fans unsure who is champion of whatIt used to be there were eight undisputed champions. Now there are 17 weight classes, and five title belts, plus the Ring Championships, for a total of 102 champions for the 17 weight classes! Then they have super, interim, and regular champions, so they have, potentially, 306 champions! That is 306 compared to 8 in the days of Sugar Ray Robinson.Each of the five organizations, the WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF, and the IBO, charge sanctioning fees for their title fights. They also charge for their elimination fights, and for everything else they can manage to screw a penny out of fighters for. They are all allied in one form or another with certain promotors, and certain Television viewing options, et al. None of them work well with the others, and none of the viewing platforms do either. The horde of sanctioning organizations allows the horde of viewing platforms and promotors to con the public and bilk everyone out of more money.Until 1965 there was basically one champion - the WBA/WBC split over Ali’s rematch with Liston was a forerunner of multiple champions, and much confusion.CREDIT BOXING HISTORY RING MAGAZINEPromoters not letting fighters fight the best competitionEver since Floyd Mayweather introduced the value of “0” as in no defeats, no promoter wants to let a money fighter fight anyone who might endanger their value. Case in point: Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua. They could have had a Fury or Wilder fight years ago, but Hearn deliberately low-balled both.Nor is that the only case. Al Haymon won’t let Errol Spence fight Terrance Crawford, who is promoted by Bob Arum.People have asked "Did Pacquiao ever offer to fight Kell Brook? … Errol Spence? … Terence Crawford? … even Shawn Porter? " Yes, he wanted to fight all of them! Why didn't he fight them? Because never was, up until last year, he fought for Bob Arum, and all of them except for Brock fight for the same rival promoter who scuttled a Spence-Crawford fight, Al Haymon.Kell Brook worked for Eddie Hearn, who also has a poor relationship with Arum, and any Pacquiao vs. Brook fight would have been held in England, which neither Arum nor Pacquiao was keen on. Now Manny works for Al Haymon, who also has a poor relationship with Eddie Hearn - and that fight won't get made not because Manny does not want it (Kell Brook trying to starve himself back to welterweight would be so weak Manny would eat him alive) but because Haymon won't work with Hearn.it used to be that the best fought the best, but now, it is simply not the case, most of the time.Bob Arum just announced this week that Terrence Crawford may fight an MMA bout and then a boxing match with a UFC star because they cannot get any of Al Haymon’s welterweight stable into the ring.That says it all. The best welterweight boxer in the world has to consider fighting an MMA star because rival promoters keep the other good welterweights from boxing him.Racism was one ugly reason so many great Black fighters arose back in the day, and it has less effect in bringing poor kids to boxing todayJon Jones mentions this all the time - and he is spot on.Ken Burns, the great filmmaker who produced “Unforgivable Blackness” about Jack Johnson, has noted that young Black men flocked to boxing in the 20th century as a way to earn a living. He also noted with the real end of segregation in the 1960’s, there appears to be far fewer young African-American men boxing because there are other, better, ways to make a living, in other sports, and in general.WK Stratton wrote in Floyd Patterson how boxing was one of the few avenues to a young Black man in the 1940’s and 1950’s to escape poverty.Although things are not completely rosy today, and there are other avenues to get out, and other sports, the NFL and NBA, which pay more on average, and are less dangeorus.The rising, indisputable proof that boxing causes brain damage and neural illnessAccording to the latest research, ALL boxers, every single one, 100% of them, suffer brain trauma from boxing; ALL OF THEM, EVERY SINGLE ONE, THOUGH NOT EVERY ONE DEVELOPS ACTIVE NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS.So far the research indicates 17 out of 100 develop pugilistic dementia, and about 23% more develop other neurological symptoms.Again, according to the most recent studies, EVERY SINGLE BOXER has brain damage - the key appears to be, most appear to be uneffected by it, BUT IT IS STILL THERE.In fact, according to very reputable studies by British researcher Dr. A.H. Roberts, any fighter who fights professionally, has a 100% chance of having brain trauma - but that trauma is not necessarily disabling, nor is it certain to develop into dementia. A fighter’s chances of developing dementia pugilistica (DP), (also called chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)) are approximately 17 out of 100 if the figures consistent with the general population of boxers holds true for him.According to a retrospective, randomized study by Dr. A.H. Roberts regarding CTBI among ex-boxers competing in Great Britain, ALL boxers tested had evidence of chronic brain injury, and approximately 17% had symptoms consistent with DP, which was believed to have been the result of repetitive concussive and/or sub-concussive head traumas, generally over the course of many years.In other words all boxers had some evidence of chronic trauma, and 17 boxers out of 100 suffered dementia as a direct result of fighting. The key appears to be length of time during which repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head were suffered.The sad truth is, most boxers do not have long, happy, healthy, lives. The ones that escape with their faculties intact, most often do not escape with their money intact, nor are they able to successfully translate their fame into lasting fortune.CREDIT: Dr. A.H. RobertsThe problem is the trauma that head blows bring appears to be permanentOne might think that a defensive master like Floyd Mayweather, for instance, is less likely than most to develop pugilistic dementia, but that does not factor in the ferocious sparring sessions he engaged in at Mayweather Gym, and it does not factor in that the critical factor appears to be length of time fighting. The longer one fights, the worse the trauma, and greater liklihood of dehabilitating damage.Indeed, the fighter generally regarded as the ultimate defensive fighter, the finest of all time, Willie Pep, died of pugilistic dementia.According to the American Medical Association, up to 40 percent of ex-boxers have been found to have symptoms of chronic brain injury. Most of these boxers, about 60%, have relatively mild symptoms. But about 13–20% suffer severe, progressive, impairment. Recent studies have shown that almost all professional boxers (even those without symptoms) have some degree of brain damage.How much impairment do boxers suffer? it depends on the individual, how long they fought, how many blows they took, and a host of factors. One thing is certain, beyond any reasonable doubt as Dr. Max Hietala, MD, PhD, says: "the more you get punched in the head, the greater the possibility of long term damage. Period."A study by the American Academy of Neurology in 2007 found blows to the head in amateur boxing appear to cause brain damage. "This data shows blows to the head in boxing, over time, are associated with neurochemical evidence of brain damage," said study author Max Hietala, MD, PhD, with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goteborg, Sweden.CREDIT: Dr. Max Hietali, MD. PhD; American Medical AssociationBut what about the effects of boxing over time?What is the truth about boxing, blows to the head, and cognitive impairment?The cumulative effect of head blows in boxing is vicious.One highly regarded scientific study, by the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, National Football League, and published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Search database, addresses impact biomechanics from boxing punches causing translational and rotational head acceleration. Olympic boxers threw four different punches at an instrumented Hybrid III dummy and responses were compared with laboratory-reconstructed NFL concussions.Head injury criterion (HIC) for boxing punches was lower than for NFL concussions because of shorter duration acceleration. Boxers deliver punches with proportionately more rotational than translational acceleration than in football concussion. Boxing punches have a 65 mm effective radius from the head center of gravity (CG) , which is almost double the 34 mm in football. A smaller radius in football prevents the helmets from sliding off each other in a tackle.Olympic boxers deliver punches with high impact velocity but lower HIC and translational acceleration than in football impacts because of a lower effective punch mass. They cause proportionately more rotational acceleration than in football. Modeling shows that the greatest strain is in the midbrain late in the exposure, after the primary impact acceleration in boxing and football.Interestingly, the hook produced the highest change in hand velocity (11.0 +/- 3.4 m/s) and greatest punch force (4405 +/- 2318 N) with average neck load of 855 +/- 537 N. It caused head translational and rotational accelerations of 71.2 +/- 32.2 g and 9306 +/- 4485 r/s. These levels are consistent with those causing concussion in NFL impacts.In other words, a Olympic class amateur boxer throwing a hook matches any blunt force trauma of a full body NFL impact. A pro boxer, especially a heavyweight hooker such as Mike Tyson, would vastly exceed NFL full body impact with a single left hook.Stop and think about it: one hook from someone like Mike Tyson is more damaging than a full body collision from a 300 pound NFL player launching himself at your head.Another study by the American Academy of Neurology in 2007, "Does Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage?" which appeared in Science Daily on 3 May 2007, found blows to the head in amateur boxing cause brain damage, according to research that presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 -- May 5, 2007.For the study, researchers used lumbar puncture to determine if there were elevated levels of biochemical markers for brain injury in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 14 amateur boxers. Boxers were tested after a fight and then again three months after rest from boxing. The study also included 10 healthy men who were not athletes.The study found high CSF levels of neuronal and glial markers suggestive of brain damage after a fight. A particular marker for neuronal damage, neurofilament light (NFL), was four times higher in boxers within 10 days of the fight as compared with healthy non-athletes. These increased levels returned to normal after three months rest from boxing for amateurs- but the study stipulated that continued fighting, for years, would cause no return to normality, and progressive degeneration.Another study, published in Frontiers of Public Health published on July 21, 2014, by the Maryland State Athletic Commission, the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and other entities, attempted to measure cognitive impairment in boxers from head trauma.Among professional boxers, the majority of injuries occur in the facial area (51%). Additional areas of injury include the hands (17%), eyes (14%), and nose (5%).Evidence from amateur and professional settings suggested that boxers may suffer from acute cognitive impairment post-injury. Areas of dysfunction noted include delayed memory, information processing and verbal fluency, and spatial and mathematical processing. Dr. Collie Moriarity also found significant slowing in simple and choice reaction time among a group of amateur boxers whose matches were stopped by the referee.Interest in the chronic consequences of professional boxing is longstanding. In 1928, H. A. Martland published a seminal article titled “Punch Drunk” in which he hypothesized about the relationship between boxing and brain injury.Overtime this condition has also been called dementia pugilistica (DP), chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).Remember Dr. Roberts research: 17 boxers out of 100 suffered dementia as a direct result of fighting.In all studies, the deadliness of boxing cannot be overstated. The force of a professional boxer's fist is equivalent to being hit with a 13-pound bowling ball traveling 20 miles per hour, or about 52 times the force of gravity.According to the Journal of Combative Sport, from January of 1960 to August of 2011, there were 488 boxing-related deaths. The journal attributes 66 percent of these deaths to head, brain or neck injuries; one was attributed to a skull fracture.CREDIT Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, National Football League; US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health; Journal of Combative Sport, Frontiers of Public Health; Maryland State Athletic Commission; Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of MedicineAccording to an explosive new study out of Australia, more damage is done neurologically from sparring than from fights.Let that sink in: more brain trauma long term damage is done to fighters sparring than in actual fights.Indeed, boxers are more at risk of brain damage when sparring during training than in actual fights, because of the amount of sheer hours spent sparring, and the cumulative effects of it, according to a research study by a Australian doctor and researcher whose expertise is extremely highly regarded.CREDIT FOR PICTURE TO UNSPLASHIn a thesis prepared with colleague Michael Wang and published in the British Medical Journal, Dr Peter Lewis described boxing as “a popular activity with many health benefits” but also stressed the dangers, finding that most of the trauma contributing to brain damage boxer sustain happens in training, especially in sparring, rather than in fights.Sparring a bigger risk than real boutsIt appears all too many fighters and trainers are too old school and tough about possible brain trauma, concussions, in sparring sessions.Think about the sheer number of hours fighters spend sparring as opposed to in actual fights, and this is exactly and precisely why more neural trauma occurs during sparring than real fights.And, there is no ring doctor present during sparring, and no mandated sit outs for suspected concussions!Examination, treatment of any suspected trauma, MUST be by qualified physicians and medical experts to prevent permanent harm, or even death, whether in sparring or in actual bouts!CREDIT DOCTORS PETER LEWIS AND MICHAEL WANG, AND THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNALIt is vital to note that no distinction is made between Class I and II concussions. That is not a decision for a layman to make, the medical professionals, in particular the Association of Ringside Physicians, mandates treatment, concussion protocols, and treatment preferably by a neurologist or neurosurgeon.The Association of Ringside Physicians has awoken as well to the inherent dangers in sparring, and has recommended not only that any boxer or MMA fighter sustaining a concussion at any time and place be barred from competing, but that a combat sports athlete’s suspension continue until a specialist physician trained in concussion management clears the fighter to return, however long that may take. Specialist physicians trained in concussion management include neurologists, neurosurgeons and primary care sports medicine physicians.https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjs...CREDIT THE ASSOCIATION OF RINGSIDE PHYSICIANSNor is sparring of any type risk free, even without a concussion! Trauma appears to accumulate, whether an overt injury occurs or not.Dr. Lewis’s work seems to indict that the damage is cumulative, and sparring over the long term creates lasting brain trauma even if you never fight a bout.We can only hope that fighters we see and care about are one of the 83 out of 100 boxers who seem to escape pugilistic dementia, but sadly, only time will tell.But the unquestioned advances in neural research, and the devastating effects of boxing, are having an effect on the number of young kids willing to risk their brains in the sweet science.CREDIT DOCTORS PETER LEWIS AND MICHAEL WANG, AND THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNALAn honest comparison of today’s fighters to past eras shows they are simply not as goodThe best way to compare eras is to use Boxrec’s computer rankings. Their system is not foolproof, it has flaws, but it is the best, most objective, attempt to rank fighters across time, factoring in quality of opposition, et al.Let us compare the welterweights of the 80’s, and today:#1 Tommy Hearns (ranked as a junior middleweight, but fought in the era of the Four Kings at welterweight)#1 Roberto Duran (ranked as a lightweight, but fought in the era of the Four Kings at welterweight)#4 Ray Leonard#5 Pernell Whitaker#20 Simon Brown#21 Carlos Palomino#24 Donald Curry#25 James McGirt#33 Milton McCory#38 Meldrick Taylor#40 Lloyd Honaghan#46 Aaron Davis#54 Marlon Starling#57 Chrisanto Espansa#65 Ernie Lopez#66 Maurice Blocker#96 Pipino Chuevas#98 Harold Volbrecht18 of the top 100 welterweights of all time fought primarily in the 1980’sThe welterweights of today:#2 Manny Pacquiao#10 Terrance Crawfold#14 Danny Garcia#37 Adrian Broner#39 Shawn Porter#49 Keith Thurman#59 Erol Spence#65 Ernie Lopez#68 Amir Khan9 of the top 100 welterweights are fighting todayThere are only half the high quality fighters, and they are generally ranked lower, than those of the 1980’sHeavyweights are even worse!It is by the numbers the worst heavyweight era in history, bar none.Technically current heavyweights - with the exception of Tyson Fury - are poor technical boxers, poor athletes, (compared with the past), handicapped by warring promoters, and 4 different sanctioning bodies.Even Tyson Fury, in his prime, barely beat a 40 year old Wlad Klitschko, who would have beaten him silly five years earlier.Fury is the best of what is probably the worst era in boxing history.these are the top 100 heavyweights fighting today, and we will compare them to the 1980’s:(Usyk is not counted, as he is untested against a top 1000 heavyweight and his record was as a cruiserweight)#31 Tyson Fury#34 Anthony Joshua#54 Alexdr Povetkin#55 Marco Huck#63 Deontay Wilder#85 Andy Ruiz6 top 100 but only two in the top fifty, for all their sizeHow about the top 100 fighters active in 1980–1990?#6 Larry Holmes *# 10 Joe Frazier *#18 George Foreman *#26 Ken Norton#37 Mike Weaver#40 Mike Dokes#42 Jerry Quarry#58 Gerrie Coetzee#63 James Douglas#67 Jimmy Young#69 Oliver McCall#70 Pinklon Thomas#73 Tim Witherspoon#78 Tony Tubbs# 82 Joe Bugner#87 Leon Spinks#90 Ray MercerFive in the Hall of Fame, four top twenty, 17 top 100.The numbers do not lie. The number of skilled fighters has declined dramatically - half in the welterweight class, one third in the heavyweights.CREDIT FOR ALL RANKINGS, RATINGS, AND RECORDS TO BOXRECBottom line: I hope you enjoyed watching Lennox Lewis 20 years ago, he is the last great heavyweight champion you will seeLennox Lewis was the last great heavyweight undisputed champion, and, as a great trainer said, likely the last we will see in our lifetime.First, the best athletes quit being boxers, especially heavyweights, then the great trainers disappeared, then fewer fights were held, then there were four major sanctioning bodies instead of two, with a fifth one rising its ugly head, and five champions in every one of the now 17 weight classes, then the major promoters decided to keep their fighters from fighting each other, and finally, scientists and doctors are saying that boxing kills your brain.You will never see an era like the Four Kings again.

If they are not worried, they should be.According to the best science available, EVERY single pro boxer sustains some form of neural damage, and 17 out of 100 suffer long term damage leading to dementia.Research out of the NFL indicates a strong likelihood the numbers may be nearly as bad for football. And even high school ball is risky…CREDIT PICTURE SPORTS ILLUSTRATEDContrary to our favorite Ali hating fanboy, there is no conclusive link between Ali’s Parkinson’s and boxing. He has to find a way in every answer to slander, attack and belittle Ali…Ali’s family claims Ali’s Parkinson’s was due to the exposure to pesticides during his childhood. But the truth is that we may never know what caused his Parkinson’s, or that of the vast majority of those diagnosed.Did Boxing Cause Muhammad Ali’s Parkinson’s? Did Pesticides?The science in the real, as opposed to never-was-world, is not certain on causation for Parkinson’s. That does not stop haters, of course, from claiming they know what scientists and medical researchers do not.In the real world, two stubborn facts remain: Neurologists cannot definitively say whether Ali’s Parkinson symptoms were in any way a result of his boxing career, and no diagnosis of pugilistic dementia or CTE was ever made of Ali. Period.There has also not been any link between Parkinson’s and dementia or CTE.The only certainty is that Ali fought far too long, and boxing made his Parkinson’s worse.So what is the truth about boxing and head trauma?Boxing is dangerous, especially to your long term mental health. So, for that matter, is football.Boxer Curtis Woodhouse in an interview to Radio Five Live said of boxing:“It's a dangerous, unforgiving sport"Nothing can be done to lessen the danger of being hit in the head…Robert Smith, an ex-boxer who is now General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control says:“Every fatality is a disaster. We do everything in our power to stop this happening, working to make boxing safer. But it is a dangerous sport and boxers are aware of the issues."The thing is, it is impossible to argue that the basic premise of boxing is to beat up and inflict harm on your opponent, and he or she on you.Even Amateur boxers suffer brain damage.Yes, you read that right. Getting hit in the head as an amateur, whether in Golden Gloves or in a posh boxing club, does brain damage.Getting hit in the head is dangerous, period.Does Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage?Former world light heavyweight boxing champion John Conteh, once told boxing historian and writer Alan Hubbard:“When the bell goes, and I leave my corner, I can never be sure I am coming back."More damage is done neurologically from sparring than from fights, and again, this applies no matter what level you are boxing atLet that sink in: more brain trauma long term damage is done to fighters sparring than in actual fights.Indeed, boxers are more at risk of brain damage when sparring during training than in actual fights, because of the amount of sheer hours spent sparring, and the cumulative effects of it, according to a research study by a Australian doctor and researcher whose expertise is extremely highly regarded.Sparring a bigger risk than real bouts.In a thesis prepared with colleague Michael Wang and published in the British Medical Journal, Dr Peter Lewis described boxing as “a popular activity with many health benefits” but also stressed the dangers, finding that most of the trauma contributing to brain damage boxer sustain happens in training, especially in sparring, rather than in fights.It appears all too many fighters and trainers are too old school and tough about possible brain trauma, concussions, in sparring sessions.Think about the sheer number of hours fighters spend sparring as opposed to in actual fights, and this is exactly and precisely why more neural trauma occurs during sparring than real fights.And, there is no ring doctor present during sparring, and no mandated sit outs for suspected concussions!Examination, treatment of any suspected trauma, MUST be by qualified physicians and medical experts to prevent permanent harm, or even death, whether in sparring or in actual bouts!The longer you box, the longer you play football, the more blows you take, in sparring, in fights, in games, the worse the damage isOne might think that a defensive master like Floyd Mayweather, for instance, is less likely than most to develop pugilistic dementia, but that does not factor in the ferocious sparring sessions he engaged in at Mayweather Gym, and it does not factor in that the critical factor appears to be length of time fighting. The longer one fights, the worse the trauma, and greater likelihood of dehabilitating damage.Indeed, the fighter generally regarded as the ultimate defensive fighter, the finest of all time, Willie Pep, died of pugilistic dementia.According to the American Medical Association, up to 40 percent of ex-boxers have been found to have symptoms of chronic brain injury. Most of these boxers, about 60%, have relatively mild symptoms. But about 15–20% suffer severe, progressive, impairment. Recent studies have shown that almost all professional boxers (even those without symptoms) have some degree of brain damage.How much impairment do boxers suffer?It depends on the individual, how long they fought, how many blows they took, and a host of factors. One thing is certain, beyond any reasonable doubt as Dr. Max Hietala, MD, PhD, says:“the more you get punched in the head, the greater the possibility of long term damage. Period."Combat Museum says:“Concussions are very common in boxing, especially because of the size of the gloves, which allow the boxers to hit harder. Combined with 12-round fights, the accumulation of punches can cause career-ending and even life-threatening injury. The rate of concussion also increases after receiving an initial concussion, so the risk of brain injury increases as a fighter prolongs their career…A smart boxer retires before receiving any life-changing injury to the brain.”The cumulative effect of head blows in boxing is vicious.IInterest in the chronic consequences of professional boxing is longstanding. In 1928, H. A. Martland published a seminal article titled “Punch Drunk” in which he hypothesized about the relationship between boxing and brain injury.Overtime this condition has also been called dementia pugilistica (DP), chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).ALL pro boxers or amateurs with extended careers suffer brain injuries, period.According to a retrospective, randomized study by Dr. A.H. Roberts regarding CTBI among ex-boxers competing in Great Britain, including long term amateurs, ALL boxers tested had evidence of chronic brain injury, and approximately 17% had symptoms consistent with DP, which was believed to have been the result of repetitive concussive and/or sub-concussive head traumas, generally over the course of many years.In other words all boxers had some evidence of chronic trauma, and 17 boxers out of 100 suffered dementia as a direct result of fighting. The key appears to be length of time during which repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head were suffered.is football any less dangerous than boxing?It may be almost as dangerous, if that is possible.Football likely is the cause for neurodegenerative diseaseA brain with CTE fills with clumps of a protein called tau, which causes cells to die. In 2017 a Journal of the American Medical Association study on the brains of 202 former football players found that 177, or 87 percent of them, had CTE.87%Of course, the research in boxing is 100% of combatants suffer neural damage, though only 83% are thought to manifest it.One highly regarded scientific study, by the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, National Football League, and published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Search database, addresses impact biomechanics from boxing punches causing translational and rotational head acceleration. Olympic boxers threw four different punches at an instrumented Hybrid III dummy and responses were compared with laboratory-reconstructed NFL concussions.Head injury criterion (HIC) for boxing punches was lower than for NFL concussions because of shorter duration acceleration. Boxers deliver punches with proportionately more rotational than translational acceleration than in football concussion. Boxing punches have a 65 mm effective radius from the head center of gravity (CG) , which is almost double the 34 mm in football. A smaller radius in football prevents the helmets from sliding off each other in a tackle.Olympic boxers deliver punches with high impact velocity but lower HIC and translational acceleration than in football impacts because of a lower effective punch mass. They cause proportionately more rotational acceleration than in football. Modeling shows that the greatest strain is in the midbrain late in the exposure, after the primary impact acceleration in boxing and football.Interestingly, the hook produced the highest change in hand velocity (11.0 +/- 3.4 m/s) and greatest punch force (4405 +/- 2318 N) with average neck load of 855 +/- 537 N. It caused head translational and rotational accelerations of 71.2 +/- 32.2 g and 9306 +/- 4485 r/s. These levels are consistent with those causing concussion in NFL impacts.Why do some boxers or football players suffer pugilistic dementia or CTE related dementia, and others not?Why is Big George Foreman, whose career was twice as long as Joe Frazier’s, and who had twice as many fights, perfectly healthy, and Joe was not?Joe’s style caused him to get more in his fights, but George fought twice as long, and had twice as many fights, and got hit a lot more when he was older. Statistically, that meant he was more, despite Joe’s style, to get neurological problems than Joe!Yet he did not, so there is a link we are missing, at this point.What do we know for sure?Various professionals have various theories.Boxers who took a greater number of head blows as part of their fighting style, like Joe Frazier, are at a higher risk of developing progressive dementia than other fighters. A link between CTE and a gene called apolipoprotein E (ApoE), which is known to increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, is often discussed.Sluggers know this, and know there style is more dangerous.Former world light heavyweight boxing champion John Conteh, once told boxing historian and writer Alan Hubbard:“When the bell goes, and I leave my corner, I can never be sure I am coming back."One of the key studies began in 1969, when researchers from the Royal College of Physicians in Great Britain examined 224 randomly selected retired boxers and found clinical evidence of severe neurological disorders, such as dementia, in 17 per cent of them.Other, more recent studies suggest that:a longer boxing career,older age at retirement from boxing,participation in more bouts, andhigher numbers of knockouts increase the risk of CTE, and thatBoxers who took significant head blows as part of their fighting style were at a higher risk of developing progressive dementia than other fighters.But again, this is a statistical mean, and there are outliers, like Big George and Larry Holmes.Think head guards and protective gear mitigate the risks of boxing, or football? Think againA study, published in Frontiers of Public Health published on July 21, 2014, by the Maryland State Athletic Commission, the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and other entities, attempted to measure cognitive impairment in amateur boxers, who use protective head gear, from head trauma.Among professional boxers, the majority of injuries occur in the facial area (51%). Additional areas of injury include the hands (17%), eyes (14%), and nose (5%).Evidence from both amateur and professional settings suggested that boxers may suffer from acute cognitive impairment post-injury. Areas of dysfunction noted include delayed memory, information processing and verbal fluency, and spatial and mathematical processing. Dr. Collie Moriarity also found significant slowing in simple and choice reaction time among a group of amateur boxers whose matches were stopped by the referee.Another study by the American Academy of Neurology in 2007, "Does Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage?" which appeared in Science Daily on 3 May 2007, found blows to the head in amateur boxing, despite protective headgear, cause brain damage, according to research that presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 -- May 5, 2007.For the study, researchers used lumbar puncture to determine if there were elevated levels of biochemical markers for brain injury in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 14 amateur boxers. Boxers were tested after a fight and then again three months after rest from boxing. The study also included 10 healthy men who were not athletes.The study found high CSF levels of neuronal and glial markers suggestive of brain damage after a fight. A particular marker for neuronal damage, neurofilament light (NFL), was four times higher in boxers within 10 days of the fight as compared with healthy non-athletes. These increased levels returned to normal after three months rest from boxing for amateurs- but the study stipulated that continued fighting, for years, would cause no return to normality, and progressive degeneration.Significantly, the use of head guards in amateur boxing does not seem to have mitigated the risk of brain injury.On the contrary, removing protective headgear LESSENS the risk of concussions and other neural trauma! according to a study “Use of Head Guards in AIBA Boxing Tournaments—A Cross-Sectional Observational Study” by Michael P Loosemore, MBBS; Dr. Charles F. Butler, MD, PhD; Dr. Abdelhamid Khadri, MD; Dr. David McDonagh, MD; and Vimal Patel, PhD.Helmets in football are no great help either.We have no idea how dangerous football really isThe deadliness of boxing, and football, cannot be overstated.Robert Smith, a fighter himself, and now the General Secretary of the British Board of Boxing control summed it up for both boxing and football:“Accidents always happen when you have got two trained athletes punching each other in the head - that's the harsh reality and it's tough to get away from..It is difficult to justify what we do sometimes, it's a brutal and unforgiving game and people lose lives”Legendary Linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest in 2012 at the age of 43. Later studies by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that he suffered from severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease that has also been found in other deceased former NFL players.Seau, increasingly depressed over short term memory loss, and other signs of neural decay, made clear::“You sacrifice everything - I wish I had known what the real cost was…”CREDIT TO:American Academy of Neurology, "Does Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage?" Science Daily on 3 May 2007Boxing and the risk of chronic brain injuryBoxing: number of participants U.S. 2017 | StatistaDoes Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage? by Dr. Max HietalaDoes Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage?Dr. A.H. Roberts, Dementia Pugilistica RevisitedDementia Pugilistica RevisitedDr. Peter Lewis and Dr. Michael Wang The British Medical JournalFrontiers of Public Health published on July 21, 2014, by the Maryland State Athletic Commission, the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of MedicineHard Luck: The Triumph and Tragedy of "Irish" Jerry Quarry by Blake Chavez and Steve SpringerIBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and StatisticsJunior Seau: The Life and Death of a Football Icon by Jim TrotterNFL Player Health & SafetyParkinson's disease - Symptoms and causesPunch Drunk by H. A. MartlandSparring a bigger risk than real boutsTeaming up to Tackle ConcussionUnderstanding Brain Injuries: NIH Research Program - NFL Play Smart, Play SafeWe have no idea how dangerous football really isWhat boxing tells us about repetitive head trauma and the brain

I would submit the entire premise in asking this question is wrong.Because yes, factually and measurably, boxing is different than other sports.Don’t think boxing is different? You are wrong - boxing is the most difficult sport in the world to master, and the most dangerous.Boxing alone of all the sports depends on the trainer, and skill and technique, rather than simply size and strength.You want proof?Boxing is the most dangerous sport of the conventional sports - more people are killed, and 100% of participants suffer brain damage, with 17–20% suffering some form of long term disabilityhttps://bleacherreport.com/artic...It is generally believed that "approximately 500 boxers have died in the ring or as a result of boxing since the Marquess of Queensberry Rules were introduced in 1884. 22 boxers died in 1953 alone. 37 have died since 1989, compared to 21 for rodeo events, including bull riding. And this is despite rule changes in boxing, reducing rounds from 15 to 12 for championship events, and from 12 to 10 for regular bouts, requirements that doctor's be ringside and an ambulance be on standby, and more!Boxing is by far the most difficult sport to masterBoxing very clearly is different from other sports, and by far the toughest sport to master.That's the sport that demands the most from the athletes who compete in it, according to a panel of sports scientists created by ESPN, who wanted to be able to use modern science to literally measure and determine what sport was the most difficult to learn and master - and it was boxing by a mile.Degree of Difficulty panelIt's tougher than football, harder than baseball, harder than basketball, tougher than MMA, gymnastics, hockey or soccer or cycling or skiing or fishing or billiards or any other of the 60 sports which ESPN rated.The 10 categories measured in comparing sports for toughness and difficulty to master were endurance, strength, power, speed, agility, flexibility, nerve, durability, hand-eye coordination, and analytic aptitude.MMA was 6th, Gymnastics was 8th.Boxing was first.Sport Skills Difficulty RankingsWhy are boxers today nowhere near as good as they were in the past? Boxers are not as good as they were in past eras, despite fanboy cries to the contrary, for a number of reasons, but the seven best reasons are:there are fewer great athletes going into boxing; especially fewer skilled big men; most great athletes are choosing sports world wide that do not involve large men hitting them in the head, and which are not as dangerous overall;size does not mean skill; people mistake larger for better;there are far few good trainers, and the great trainers are a distant memory;there are fewer fights, so fewer opportunities to learn and develop; boxing is the scientifically measured most difficult sport to master, and there are fewer trainers, no great trainers, and fewer opportunities to develop skills in fights;there are fewer African-American boxers as there are other opportunities, both in sports, and out of sports, than being punched in the head;there are too many sanctioning organizations, too many titles, too many warring promoters in bed with the sanctioning organizations, and the best fighters do not fight each other so their skills do not improve with the best competition;the increasing evidence that boxing leads directly to brain damage and neural traumaSo let us discuss them all:There are fewer great athletes going into boxing, especially fewer big menEvery fighter and trainer alive agrees that the numbers of fighters, the far fewer great athletes boxing, especially in the higher weights, is proof that the best athletes, instead of picking boxing, as they did in Ali’s day, now pick other sports.CREDIT PICTURE KENTUCKY SPORTS RADIOEmmanuel Steward said of today’s bigger fighters, "they are nowhere near as skilled as the old fighters. All the good big men are in the NFL or NBA!" He went on to say that the money is so good in the NBA and NFL, which have medical coverage and a good pension plan to boot, that fighters like Foreman and Liston, would today be in other sports.Angelo Dundee said before he died, "the great heavyweights are gone. Lennox Lewis was the last great heavyweight you will see in your lifetime. These guys coming up just can't box!" Dundee reinforced what Manny Steward said, that “today’s big men are simply not as good athletes as their Golden Age predecessors.”There are fewer fighters today compared to even 50 years agoThere are fewer fighters, fewer trainers, with less expertise fighting fewer fights, and not just in the US, but all over the world the totals are down.Between 1920 and 1970 2% of the entire population boxed in either amateur or professional sanctioned matches. The percentage today is far, far, less. Indeed, even the total number is less than it was a century ago when the population was less than a third of what it is today!Fighters today fight far fewer rounds, box less in the gym, and simply do not learn the fundamentals of the game.By every metric that matters, the sport is far less healthy than it was 40-50 years ago. Those metrics include key indicators like the number of licensed fighters and the number of promoted events. Both are significantly lower than they were 50 years ago. In fact, both are significantly lower than they were in the 1930′s.Steven Reiss, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, wrote, “By the start of 1913 there were 89 boxing clubs in the state of New York, including 49 in New York City” There were over 20 boxing shows a week in New York City during this period. In 1994 there were only 19 during the whole year. (and even less last year, the number has decreased yearly!) There were more, and better, boxers last century. (see Herbert Goldman article in the 1996 March issue of Boxing Illustrated March 1996. p 29. Reiss quote in "In The Ring and Out: Professional Boxing in New York").Even counting the relatively greater popularity of the sport in England and Eastern Europe, there are still less fighters total, in the world, licensed to fight than there were in 1970, almost 50 years ago!There are less licensed trainers than there were 50 years ago!Fighters today fight far fewer fights, thus boxing infinitely fewer rounds, box less in the gym, and simply do not learn the fundamentals of the game, because practice makes perfect. Greater money for a single fight means fighters do not fight as much, and thus do not learn as much.There are also far fewer boxing events held. In addition, there are fewer fight clubs, licensed fighters, and licensed trainers today that in 1970, and in the US, fewer than even in 1930. Fewer boxers, fewer trainers, fewer events to box in, less training, less sparring, worse athletes - no wonder modern heavyweights especially are simply pitiful next to heavyweights from the past.CREDIT FOR ALL STATISTICS TO The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksThis era of fighters, especially heavyweights, is all time weak, skill wiseThe Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science: Mike Silver, Foreword by Budd Schulberg: 9780786493876: Amazon.com: BooksIn this riveting book, Mike Silver point by point by the numbers shows the ongoing deterioration of boxers' skills, their endurance, the decline in the number of fights and the psychological readiness of championship-caliber boxers. The strengths and weaknesses of today's superstars are analyzed empirically and compared to those of such past greats as Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Liston, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Dempsey and Jake LaMotta - and the modern fighters simply do not stand up in the comparison.Fighters today fight far fewer rounds, box less in the gym, and simply do not learn the fundamentals of the game.There are fewer trainers, with less expertise fighting fewer fights.The numbers do not lie. Tyson Fury and Luis Ortiz are the only heavyweights in the top ten who actually can box! And Fury is coming off a near 4 year drink and drug binge, and Ortiz is at least 40! Oleksandr Usyk can actually box, but he is unproven as a heavyweight at this time.Bigger does not mean better, except to fanboysThere are writers on here, such as “Never was,” who know nothing of boxing, and who confuse size with skill.Boxing writer and historian, Frank Thomas, explains the difference between size and skill:"In the minds of some, size trumps all. Ergo, the Klitschkos [or Joshua] should defeat any other heavyweight who is not of similar stature. This gravely misunderstands the role of size in boxing, as amply demonstrated by yesteryear’s Primo Carnera, the Golden Age’s own Ernie Terrell, or modern fighters such as Nikolai Valuev and Lance Whitaker. In addition to height, it also misreads what “size” is.Many modern heavyweights are the same height as their 1970s counterparts, but pack twenty pounds or more of extra mass. Yet does that mass make them a better fighter? If it was earned by lifting weights, [or PED's] as is all too often the case, then the answer is no.Bulky muscles look impressive, but they do not help a fighter hit harder. Instead, they slow a fighter down and serve as useless bulk which must be hauled around the ring all night. Anyone who has trained using old school boxing methods is familiar with just how difficult it is to build good boxing muscle through weight lifting."Because fighters today are bigger, does not mean they are better. A physique like AJ's is useful if he is posing on a stage for Mr. Universe, and not a bit of help in the ring while a fat Mexican is pounding his huge posterior. His size helps him against boxers without the skill to actually box him.Ditto for Wilder - people ooh and ah about his being 6′7″ and knocking out 32 complete bums, and 5 journeyman - but he did not beat the only good fighter he faced.Anyone who believes Rocky Marciano could not have gotten inside and beat up Wilder or Joshua simply does not understand boxing. A 190 pound man can destroy a man 7 inches and 60 pounds bigger - just ask Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey.The Great Trainers are a distant memory - boxing is the most difficult sport to master, and the great teachers are all goneTraining hasn’t improved in any way. If anything there are less qualified trainers than ever before. Joe Frazier commented in KO Magazine, March 1999, ‘These guys aren’t trained by real champions, by great ex-fighters.”The best trainers in history were fighters who knew all the secrets of the game. Rocky Marciano's trainer, Charley Goldman, claimed to have had over 300 pro fights. Jack Blackburn, Joe Louis’ trainer, was one of the great fighters of the turn of the century and had over 160 pro fights. He fought the likes of Joe Gans, Sam Langford, and Harry Greb. They learned to fight by fighting, and then by working with other great trainers.That level of experience is completely gone from the sport today.Ray Arcel, Hall of Fame Trainer, who learned himself from some of the greats, like Benny Leonard and Whitey Bimstein, noted right before his death, "Boxing is not really boxing today. It’s theater. Some kids might look good. But they don’t learn their trade. If you take a piece of gold out of the ground, you know its gold. But you have to clean it. You have to polish it. But there aren’t too many guys capable (today) of polishing a fighter.”And that is just one of the things this question misses, that fundamentals and training are incredibly difficult, more and differently than in other sports, and in the heavyweights, athletic ability. The sport used to get the best athletes - now it gets those who can't play football or basketball...Multiple sanctioning bodies leave fans unsure who is champion of what, and help the promoters keep the best competition from facing each otherIt used to be there were eight undisputed champions. Now there are 17 weight classes, and five title belts, plus the Ring Championships, for a total of 102 champions for the 17 weight classes! Then they have super, interim, and regular champions, so they have, potentially, 306 champions! That is 306 compared to 8 in the days of Sugar Ray Robinson.Each of the five organizations, the WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF, and the IBO, charge sanctioning fees for their title fights. They also charge for their elimination fights, and for everything else they can manage to screw a penny out of fighters for. They are all allied in one form or another with certain promotors, and certain Television viewing options, et al. None of them work well with the others, and none of the viewing platforms do either. The horde of sanctioning organizations allows the horde of viewing platforms and promotors to con the public and bilk everyone out of more money.Until 1965 there was basically one champion - the WBA/WBC split over Ali’s rematch with Liston was a forerunner of multiple champions, and much confusion.Promoters not letting fighters fight the best competitionThe horde of sanctioning bodies also prevents the better fighters from fighting each other, which also decreases the ability of fighters to increase skills by better competition.Tyson Fury would like to fight Joshua to unify the titles - what chance do you think that will happen?Ha, ha, ha.Ever since Floyd Mayweather introduced the value of “0” as in no defeats, no promoter wants to let a money fighter fight anyone who might endanger their value. Case in point: Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua. They could have had a Fury or Wilder fight years ago, but Hearn deliberately low-balled both.Nor is that the only case. Al Haymon won’t let Errol Spence fight Terrance Crawford, who is promoted by Bob Arum.People have asked "Did Pacquiao ever offer to fight Kell Brook? … Errol Spence? … Terence Crawford? … even Shawn Porter? " Yes, he wanted to fight all of them! Why didn't he fight them? Because never was, up until last year, he fought for Bob Arum, and all of them except for Brock fight for the same rival promoter who scuttled a Spence-Crawford fight, Al Haymon.Kell Brook worked for Eddie Hearn, who also has a poor relationship with Arum, and any Pacquiao vs. Brook fight would have been held in England, which neither Arum nor Pacquiao was keen on. Now Manny works for Al Haymon, who also has a poor relationship with Eddie Hearn - and that fight won't get made not because Manny does not want it (Kell Brook trying to starve himself back to welterweight would be so weak Manny would eat him alive) but because Haymon won't work with Hearn.it used to be that the best fought the best, but now, it is simply not the case, most of the time.Bob Arum just announced this week that Terrence Crawford may fight an MMA bout and then a boxing match with a UFC star because they cannot get any of Al Haymon’s welterweight stable into the ring.That says it all. The best welterweight boxer in the world has to consider fighting an MMA star because rival promoters keep the other good welterweights from boxing him.Racism was one ugly reason so many great Black fighters arose back in the dayJon Jones mentions this all the time - and he is spot on.Ken Burns, the great filmmaker who produced “Unforgivable Blackness” about Jack Johnson, has noted that young Black men flocked to boxing in the 20th century as a way to earn a living. He also noted with the real end of segregation in the 1960’s, there appears to be far fewer young African-American men boxing because there are other, better, ways to make a living, in other sports, and in general.WK Stratton wrote in Floyd Patterson how boxing was one of the few avenues to a young Black man in the 1940’s and 1950’s to escape poverty.Although things are not completely rosy today, and there are other avenues to get out, and other sports, the NFL and NBA, which pay more on average, and are less dangerous.The rising, indisputable proof that boxing causes brain damage and neural illnessAccording to the latest research, ALL boxers, every single one, 100% of them, suffer brain trauma from boxing; ALL OF THEM, EVERY SINGLE ONE, THOUGH NOT EVERY ONE DEVELOPS ACTIVE NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS.So far the research indicates 17 out of 100 develop pugilistic dementia, and about 23% more develop other neurological symptoms.Again, according to the most recent studies, EVERY SINGLE BOXER has brain damage - the key appears to be, most appear to be uneffected by it, BUT IT IS STILL THERE.In fact, according to very reputable studies by British researcher Dr. A.H. Roberts, any fighter who fights professionally, has a 100% chance of having brain trauma - but that trauma is not necessarily disabling, nor is it certain to develop into dementia. A fighter’s chances of developing dementia pugilistica (DP), (also called chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)) are approximately 17 out of 100 if the figures consistent with the general population of boxers holds true for him.According to a retrospective, randomized study by Dr. A.H. Roberts regarding CTBI among ex-boxers competing in Great Britain, ALL boxers tested had evidence of chronic brain injury, and approximately 17% had symptoms consistent with DP, which was believed to have been the result of repetitive concussive and/or sub-concussive head traumas, generally over the course of many years.In other words all boxers had some evidence of chronic trauma, and 17 boxers out of 100 suffered dementia as a direct result of fighting. The key appears to be length of time during which repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head were suffered.The sad truth is, most boxers do not have long, happy, healthy, lives. The ones that escape with their faculties intact, most often do not escape with their money intact, nor are they able to successfully translate their fame into lasting fortune.The problem is the trauma that head blows bring appears to be permanentOne might think that a defensive master like Floyd Mayweather, for instance, is less likely than most to develop pugilistic dementia, but that does not factor in the ferocious sparring sessions he engaged in at Mayweather Gym, and it does not factor in that the critical factor appears to be length of time fighting. The longer one fights, the worse the trauma, and greater liklihood of dehabilitating damage.Indeed, the fighter generally regarded as the ultimate defensive fighter, the finest of all time, Willie Pep, died of pugilistic dementia.According to the American Medical Association, up to 40 percent of ex-boxers have been found to have symptoms of chronic brain injury. Most of these boxers, about 60%, have relatively mild symptoms. But about 13–20% suffer severe, progressive, impairment. Recent studies have shown that almost all professional boxers (even those without symptoms) have some degree of brain damage.How much impairment do boxers suffer? it depends on the individual, how long they fought, how many blows they took, and a host of factors. One thing is certain, beyond any reasonable doubt as Dr. Max Hietala, MD, PhD, says: "the more you get punched in the head, the greater the possibility of long term damage. Period."A study by the American Academy of Neurology in 2007 found blows to the head in amateur boxing appear to cause brain damage. "This data shows blows to the head in boxing, over time, are associated with neurochemical evidence of brain damage," said study author Max Hietala, MD, PhD, with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goteborg, Sweden.But what about the effects of boxing over time?What is the truth about boxing, blows to the head, and cognitive impairment?The cumulative effect of head blows in boxing is vicious.One highly regarded scientific study, by the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, National Football League, and published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Search database, addresses impact biomechanics from boxing punches causing translational and rotational head acceleration. Olympic boxers threw four different punches at an instrumented Hybrid III dummy and responses were compared with laboratory-reconstructed NFL concussions.Head injury criterion (HIC) for boxing punches was lower than for NFL concussions because of shorter duration acceleration. Boxers deliver punches with proportionately more rotational than translational acceleration than in football concussion. Boxing punches have a 65 mm effective radius from the head center of gravity (CG) , which is almost double the 34 mm in football. A smaller radius in football prevents the helmets from sliding off each other in a tackle.Olympic boxers deliver punches with high impact velocity but lower HIC and translational acceleration than in football impacts because of a lower effective punch mass. They cause proportionately more rotational acceleration than in football. Modeling shows that the greatest strain is in the midbrain late in the exposure, after the primary impact acceleration in boxing and football.Interestingly, the hook produced the highest change in hand velocity (11.0 +/- 3.4 m/s) and greatest punch force (4405 +/- 2318 N) with average neck load of 855 +/- 537 N. It caused head translational and rotational accelerations of 71.2 +/- 32.2 g and 9306 +/- 4485 r/s. These levels are consistent with those causing concussion in NFL impacts.In other words, a Olympic class amateur boxer throwing a hook matches any blunt force trauma of a full body NFL impact. A pro boxer, especially a heavyweight hooker such as Mike Tyson, would vastly exceed NFL full body impact with a single left hook.Stop and think about it: one hook from someone like Mike Tyson is more damaging than a full body collision from a 300 pound NFL player launching himself at your head.Another study by the American Academy of Neurology in 2007, "Does Amateur Boxing Cause Brain Damage?" which appeared in Science Daily on 3 May 2007, found blows to the head in amateur boxing cause brain damage, according to research that presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 -- May 5, 2007.For the study, researchers used lumbar puncture to determine if there were elevated levels of biochemical markers for brain injury in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 14 amateur boxers. Boxers were tested after a fight and then again three months after rest from boxing. The study also included 10 healthy men who were not athletes.The study found high CSF levels of neuronal and glial markers suggestive of brain damage after a fight. A particular marker for neuronal damage, neurofilament light (NFL), was four times higher in boxers within 10 days of the fight as compared with healthy non-athletes. These increased levels returned to normal after three months rest from boxing for amateurs- but the study stipulated that continued fighting, for years, would cause no return to normality, and progressive degeneration.Another study, published in Frontiers of Public Health published on July 21, 2014, by the Maryland State Athletic Commission, the Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and other entities, attempted to measure cognitive impairment in boxers from head trauma.Among professional boxers, the majority of injuries occur in the facial area (51%). Additional areas of injury include the hands (17%), eyes (14%), and nose (5%).Evidence from amateur and professional settings suggested that boxers may suffer from acute cognitive impairment post-injury. Areas of dysfunction noted include delayed memory, information processing and verbal fluency, and spatial and mathematical processing. Dr. Collie Moriarity also found significant slowing in simple and choice reaction time among a group of amateur boxers whose matches were stopped by the referee.Interest in the chronic consequences of professional boxing is longstanding. In 1928, H. A. Martland published a seminal article titled “Punch Drunk” in which he hypothesized about the relationship between boxing and brain injury.Overtime this condition has also been called dementia pugilistica (DP), chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).Remember Dr. Roberts research: 17 boxers out of 100 suffered dementia as a direct result of fighting.In all studies, the deadliness of boxing cannot be overstated. The force of a professional boxer's fist is equivalent to being hit with a 13-pound bowling ball traveling 20 miles per hour, or about 52 times the force of gravity.According to the Journal of Combative Sport, from January of 1960 to August of 2011, there were 488 boxing-related deaths. The journal attributes 66 percent of these deaths to head, brain or neck injuries; one was attributed to a skull fracture.According to an explosive new study out of Australia, more damage is done neurologically from sparring than from fights.Let that sink in: more brain trauma long term damage is done to fighters sparring than in actual fights.Indeed, boxers are more at risk of brain damage when sparring during training than in actual fights, because of the amount of sheer hours spent sparring, and the cumulative effects of it, according to a research study by a Australian doctor and researcher whose expertise is extremely highly regarded.CREDIT FOR PICTURE TO UNSPLASHIn a thesis prepared with colleague Michael Wang and published in the British Medical Journal, Dr Peter Lewis described boxing as “a popular activity with many health benefits” but also stressed the dangers, finding that most of the trauma contributing to brain damage boxer sustain happens in training, especially in sparring, rather than in fights.Sparring a bigger risk than real boutsIt appears all too many fighters and trainers are too old school and tough about possible brain trauma, concussions, in sparring sessions.Think about the sheer number of hours fighters spend sparring as opposed to in actual fights, and this is exactly and precisely why more neural trauma occurs during sparring than real fights.And, there is no ring doctor present during sparring, and no mandated sit outs for suspected concussions!Examination, treatment of any suspected trauma, MUST be by qualified physicians and medical experts to prevent permanent harm, or even death, whether in sparring or in actual bouts!CREDIT DOCTORS PETER LEWIS AND MICHAEL WANG, AND THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNALIt is vital to note that no distinction is made between Class I and II concussions. That is not a decision for a layman to make, the medical professionals, in particular the Association of Ringside Physicians, mandates treatment, concussion protocols, and treatment preferably by a neurologist or neurosurgeon.The Association of Ringside Physicians has awoken as well to the inherent dangers in sparring, and has recommended not only that any boxer or MMA fighter sustaining a concussion at any time and place be barred from competing, but that a combat sports athlete’s suspension continue until a specialist physician trained in concussion management clears the fighter to return, however long that may take. Specialist physicians trained in concussion management include neurologists, neurosurgeons and primary care sports medicine physicians.https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjs...CREDIT THE ASSOCIATION OF RINGSIDE PHYSICIANSNor is sparring of any type risk free, even without a concussion! Trauma appears to accumulate, whether an overt injury occurs or not.Dr. Lewis’s work seems to indict that the damage is cumulative, and sparring over the long term creates lasting brain trauma even if you never fight a bout.We can only hope that fighters we see and care about are one of the 83 out of 100 boxers who seem to escape pugilistic dementia, but sadly, only time will tell.But the unquestioned advances in neural research, and the devastating effects of boxing, are having an effect on the number of young kids willing to risk their brains in the sweet science.An honest comparison of today’s fighters to past eras shows they are not as goodThe best way to compare eras is to use Boxrec’s computer rankings. Their system is not foolproof, it has flaws, but it is the best, most objective, attempt to rank fighters across time, factoring in quality of opposition, et al.We will use the heavyweights first, since most people cite them more, so these are the top 100 heavyweights fighting today, and we will compare them to past eras:(Usyk is not counted, as he is untested against a top 1000 heavyweight and his record was as a cruiserweight)#31 Tyson Fury#34 Anthony Joshua#54 Alexdr Povetkin#55 Marco Huck#63 Deontay Wilder#85 Andy Ruiz6 top 100 but only two in the top fifty, for all their size, none in the top twentyHow let us list the top 100 fighters active during the Klitschko era:#3 Evander Holyfield#9 Wlad Klitschko#25 David Haye#26 Vitali Klitschko#35 John Ruiz#46 Ruslan Chaglev#49 Nikolay Valuev#54 Alexdr Povetkin#55 Marco Huck#67 Chris Byrd#99 Vyacheslab GlazkovThere were 11 top 100 heavyweights battling during the Klitschko era, 2 in the top twenty, 2 Hall of Fame alreadyHow let us list the top 100 fighters active in 1990–2000:# 3 Evander Holyfield *#6 Larry Holmes *#14 Mike Tyson#15 Lennox Lewis#18 George Foreman *#30 Riddick Bowe#35 John Ruiz#37 Mike Weaver#40 Mike Dokes#49 Nicolay Valueav#53 Adolpho Washington#66 Frank Bruno#69 Oliver McCall#70 Pinklon Thomas#78 Tony Tubbs#90 Ray MercerFive in the Hall of Fame, five in the top twenty, 16 in the top 100!How about the top 100 fighters active in 1980–1990?#1 Muhammad Ali *#6 Larry Holmes *# 10 Joe Frazier *#18 George Foreman *#26 Ken Norton#37 Mike Weaver#40 Mike Dokes#42 Jerry Quarry#58 Gerrie Coetzee#63 James Douglas#67 Jimmy Young#69 Oliver McCall#70 Pinklon Thomas#78 Tony Tubbs# 82 Joe Bugner#89 Leon Spinks#90 Ray MercerFive in the Hall of Fame, four top twenty, 15 top 100.How let us list the top 100 fighters active in 1970–1980:#1 Muhammad Ali *#4 Floyd Patterson *#6 Larry Holmes *#10 Joe Frazier *#17 Sonny Liston *#18 George Foreman *#42 Jerry Quarry#43 Jimmy Ellis#67 Jimmy Young#70 Pinklon Thomas# 82 Joe Bugner#84 Oscar Bonavena#89 Leon Spinks#95 Ernie Terrell#97 George ChuvaloFive in the Hall of Fame, five top twenty, 15 top 100.How about the top five active in 1960–1970?#1 Muhammad Ali *#4 Floyd Patterson *#7 Bob Foster (light heavyweight champ tried twice for the heavyweight title)#17 Sonny Liston *#29 Ingemar Johnannson *#38 Eddie Machen#72 Doug Jones#74 Lee Savold#75 Zora Foley# 82 Joe Bugner#84 Oscar Bonavena#95 Ernie Terrell#96 Tommy Jackson#97 George ChuvaloFive in the Hall of Fame, 3 top twenty, 14 top 100How about the top 100 active in 1950–1960?#2 Joe Louis *#4 Floyd Patterson *#6 Rocky Marciano *#8 Ezzard Charles (ranked as light heavy, was heavyweight champ, and would have been #1 light heavy if the fights were not counted after he was symptomatic with ALS) *#27 Jimmy Bivens *#33 Joe Walcott *#72 Doug Jones#74 Lee Savold#75 Zora Foley#77 Bob Baker#92 Hans Neuhas#95 Ernie Terrell#96 Tommy Jackson#97 George Chuvalo#98 Roscoe TolesFive are in the Hall of Fame, 3 in the top twenty, 15 top 100How about 1940–1950?#2 Joe Louis *#6 Rocky Marciano *#8 Ezzard Charles (ranked as light heavy, was heavyweight champ, and would have been #1 light heavy if the fights were not counted after he was symptomatic with ALS) *#9 Billy Conn (ranked as light heavy, fought for heavyweight title twice)#12 Max Schmeling *#21 Max Baer *#27 Jimmy Bivens#36 Mello Bettina#52 Primo Carnera#57 Elmer Ray#59 Bob Pastor#60 Walter Neusel#64 Bruce Woodcock#68 Fred Fulton#98 Roscoe Toles8 in the Hall of Fame, 3 top twenty, 15 top 100!An honest look at today’s other weight classes would produce a similar, but not as dramatic, result, and to prove so, let us compare today’s glamour class, the welterweights, with the era of the Four Kings, Leonard, Duran, Hearns, of 40 years ago.Guess what, second verse, same as the first if you look at any weight class!Let us compare the welterweights of the 80’s, and today:#1 Tommy Hearns (ranked as a junior middleweight, but fought in the era of the Four Kings at welterweight)#1 Roberto Duran (ranked as a lightweight, but fought in the era of the Four Kings at welterweight)#4 Ray Leonard#5 Pernell Whitaker#20 Simon Brown#21 Carlos Palomino#24 Donald Curry#25 James McGirt#33 Milton McCory#38 Meldrick Taylor#40 Lloyd Honaghan#46 Aaron Davis#54 Marlon Starling#57 Chrisanto Espansa#65 Ernie Lopez#66 Maurice Blocker#96 Pipino Chuevas#98 Harold Volbrecht18 of the top 100 welterweights of all time fought in the 1980’s in the Four Kings era, 40 years agoThe welterweights of today:#2 Manny Pacquiao#10 Terrance Crawfold#14 Danny Garcia#37 Adrian Broner#39 Shawn Porter#49 Keith Thurman#59 Erol Spence#65 Ernie Lopez#68 Amir Khan9 of the top 100 welterweights are fighting todayThere are only HALF the high quality fighters, and they are generally ranked lower, than those of the 1980’sHeavyweights are even worse!CREDIT FOR ALL RANKINGS, RATINGS, AND RECORDS TO BOXRECBottom line: I hope you enjoyed watching Lennox Lewis 20 years ago, he is the last great heavyweight champion you will seeLennox Lewis was the last great heavyweight undisputed champion, and, as a great trainer said, likely the last we will see in our lifetime.First, the best athletes quit being boxers, especially heavyweights.Then the great trainers disappeared, then fewer fights were held, though boxing is the hardest sport to master, the true masters who taught it are gone, along with the opportunity to master the sport.Now there are four major sanctioning bodies instead of two, with a fifth one rising its ugly head, and five champions in every one of the now 17 weight classes, then the major promoters decided to keep their fighters from fighting each other, and finally, scientists and doctors are saying that boxing kills your brain.Boxing is the most difficult and dangerous sport to master, and it is, in fact, different.