Beards in boxing

[gilgamesh]

id think stubble could actually be worse? because its more brissly and can scratch the opponent easyier

id think maybe at best massive beards could give some tiny degree of extra protection from cuts, but would be very trivial as protecting from kos

John Ruiz loved the stubble.

[Ilya Muromets]

Beards have been illegal in most places in boxing because they can be used to scratch an opponents eyes/face, not because of any cushioning effect on punches. Looking at it from a purely scientific POV there would be some cushioning, but it would be very minor (I would expect it would absorb much less than 1% of the energy from a punch), even with a big beard like Broner's.

They have been historically illegal in boxing for a number of reasons, including the possibility of using them to rub in cuts, and giving the bearded fighter an unfair advantage in protection against cuts, but the main reason has always been the unfair blow cushioning advantage.

This simple concept seems too complicated for a lot of posters here. How about head hair. If i give a feller with a shaved head a gentle tap with my handy black jack it's going to hurt him a lot more than if he had a pile of hair on his head. Or don't you believe that either? Come closer and i will demonstrate.

[Best Coast]

Any chance the NYSAC made Broner shave his beard?

[jezzamundo]

Beards have been illegal in most places in boxing because they can be used to scratch an opponents eyes/face, not because of any cushioning effect on punches. Looking at it from a purely scientific POV there would be some cushioning, but it would be very minor (I would expect it would absorb much less than 1% of the energy from a punch), even with a big beard like Broner's.

They have been historically illegal in boxing for a number of reasons, including the possibility of using them to rub in cuts, and giving the bearded fighter an unfair advantage in protection against cuts, but the main reason has always been the unfair blow cushioning advantage.

This simple concept seems too complicated for a lot of posters here. How about head hair. If i give a feller with a shaved head a gentle tap with my handy black jack it's going to hurt him a lot more than if he had a pile of hair on his head. Or don't you believe that either? Come closer and i will demonstrate.

I like everything you wrote in the first paragraph, but still have difficulty believing the bold text. If you can find this in writing somewhere from a reputable source, I would be interested in seeing it. I've conceded that a thick beard would have to absorb some of the power from a punch, but I also think that the difference it would make would be negligible, not enough for it to be considered a factor.

That said, I always thought that Lennox Lewis's tightly braided bun at the back of his head in his later career would offer him some (albeit minimal) protection against rabbit punches.

[bigjack]

Please,not this nonsense again,i thought this had been done to death recently.The advantage would be so small it's not worth talking about.

[Impractical Poster]

but the main reason has always been the unfair blow cushioning advantage.

Where did you read this?

[happyNY18]

Please,not this nonsense again,i thought this had been done to death recently.The advantage would be so small it's not worth talking about.

So what if 1 fighter has heavier gloves than the other guy? Is it a disadvantage not worth talking about?

[bigjack]

Please,not this nonsense again,i thought this had been done to death recently.The advantage would be so small it's not worth talking about.

So what if 1 fighter has heavier gloves than the other guy? Is it a disadvantage not worth talking about?

That's different and you know it is.What would a beard weigh anyway ? a few grams ?

[armageto]

This is the 19th version of this topic, it's just trolling at this point. If anybody here knows a boxer, or has actual sparred/boxed, it's utter nonsense. A normal beard you might see in the ring is doing absolutely nothing. Lock this nonsense up and throw away the key....

[Ilya Muromets]

Please,not this nonsense again,i thought this had been done to death recently.The advantage would be so small it's not worth talking about.

So what if 1 fighter has heavier gloves than the other guy? Is it a disadvantage not worth talking about?

That's different and you know it is.What would a beard weigh anyway ? a few grams ?

ALL cushioning material is light and mostly air. A beard is probably close to being nature's perfect cushion.

[happyNY18]

Please,not this nonsense again,i thought this had been done to death recently.The advantage would be so small it's not worth talking about.

So what if 1 fighter has heavier gloves than the other guy? Is it a disadvantage not worth talking about?

That's different and you know it is.What would a beard weigh anyway ? a few grams ?

1 ounce = 28 grams.

The difference therefore in pro gloves is 2 ounces / 56 grams.

The weight is made up of horsehair. So, 10 ounce gloves are stuffed with an extra 56 grams of horsehair.

Now, it is a little different in the sense that the additional weight naturally slowsdown handspeed, thus, generates less power, but additional cushioning/padding also impacts the opposing fighter less.

If this was such a "small advantage" as you say, then why would a guy like Mayweather point blank refuse to fight Maidana after inspecting his gloves and concluding the padding inside was disperesed more around the hand part of the glove, and thinner on the wrist? Is the advantage so small that Floyd was terrified of a few grams of horsehair being thinnly spread over his opponents knuckles?

And who could forget Luis Resto vs Billy Collins? Granted, he had plaster of paris on his hands, but that was never proven - Resto & Panama Lewis got jail time purely on the conviction of having removed some of the padding from the gloves, to inflict more damage. In your line of thinking "Big deal, it was probably only a few grams"

I'm not sure how much a beard weighs, unfortunately i shaved 2 days ago after having grown a 2-week beard. There was a shit load of hair - next time i will scoop it up and place it on my kitchen scales and see how many grams i get. In the mean time, you can try an expirement of your own. I'm sure you could order a Santa Claus beard off eBay for a few bucks. Get a friend to nail you clean on the chin, with and without the beard on, and see what hurts more.

[Ilya Muromets]

Beards have been illegal in most places in boxing because they can be used to scratch an opponents eyes/face, not because of any cushioning effect on punches. Looking at it from a purely scientific POV there would be some cushioning, but it would be very minor (I would expect it would absorb much less than 1% of the energy from a punch), even with a big beard like Broner's.

They have been historically illegal in boxing for a number of reasons, including the possibility of using them to rub in cuts, and giving the bearded fighter an unfair advantage in protection against cuts, but the main reason has always been the unfair blow cushioning advantage.

This simple concept seems too complicated for a lot of posters here. How about head hair. If i give a feller with a shaved head a gentle tap with my handy black jack it's going to hurt him a lot more than if he had a pile of hair on his head. Or don't you believe that either? Come closer and i will demonstrate.

I like everything you wrote in the first paragraph, but still have difficulty believing the bold text. If you can find this in writing somewhere from a reputable source, I would be interested in seeing it. I've conceded that a thick beard would have to absorb some of the power from a punch, but I also think that the difference it would make would be negligible, not enough for it to be considered a factor.

That said, I always thought that Lennox Lewis's tightly braided bun at the back of his head in his later career would offer him some (albeit minimal) protection against rabbit punches.

Of course head hair is also a cushion. My ignored post above about me black jack tapping a shaved vs a long hair head. Just common sense.

I'll pop something in google and see what it says for you, Jez, see if it meet yr criteria is for a reliable source. One man's reliable source...

[Ilya Muromets]

Oh never mind. I put "beards cushion boxing blows" in my steam powered googling machine and too many things came up. Looks like hundreds and thousands of people arguing the same subject on different forums.

[Wales]

Over last 18 years I’ve sparred weekly. Over that time I’ve been both clean shaven and bearded (I’ve got a thick beard now).
Not once have I ever gone to the gym after binning the beard off and noticed shots were harder in sparring. I’ve walked outside after shaving and felt the cold, looked at myself in the mirror shocked at the change , but personally never thought a punch was harder.

[Ilya Muromets]

If i ever go back to boxing I'm going to grow a giant mountain man beard and let my curly hair get twice as long as my beard!!

[Wales]

The power of a punch from a pro boxer is so heavy the cushioning a beard would give would be completely negligible

[Wales]

If i ever go back to boxing I'm going to grow a giant mountain man beard and let my curly hair get twice as long as my beard!!

Deffo an experiment to settle an age old argument in the making here

[Ilya Muromets]

If i ever go back to boxing I'm going to grow a giant mountain man beard and let my curly hair get twice as long as my beard!!

Deffo an experiment to settle an age old argument in the making here

Boxing is morphing into wrasslin anyway. What was that wrestler who used to show up in overalls and giant beard and hair? That's gonna be me. I could do some hill billy schtick, like that wrestler, for my fancy ring walk with fiddles and banjos!

[Ilya Muromets]

Over last 18 years I’ve sparred weekly. Over that time I’ve been both clean shaven and bearded (I’ve got a thick beard now).
Not once have I ever gone to the gym after binning the beard off and noticed shots were harder in sparring. I’ve walked outside after shaving and felt the cold, looked at myself in the mirror shocked at the change , but personally never thought a punch was harder.

Interesting experiment, Wales. But how long had your beard been before you "binned" it? It wouldn't help if it was short.

Going off on a tangent, an experiment i made in my boxing days was regarding ab strength /resistance to punches. My abs were strong. But then i switched from situps, or whatever i was doing, to isometric ab contractions only. I felt that my abs were *at least* as strong after i switched to isometrics.

[Wales]

Granted , it was never a “hillbilly Jim” beard. That’d take some growing

[punchoutsb]

An average one inch long human hair weighs about 50 micrograms.

The average beard is approximately 30,000 hairs.

50 micrograms times 30,000 = 1.5 million micrograms or 0.05 ounces.

Say a beard is 4 inches long, we take 0.05 ounces times 4 and we get 0.2 ounces.

So a 4 inch long beard would offer up about 1/5 of an ounce of weight. This weight is not solidly packed, but is rather spread across the entire face. If a punch lands the entire beard does not compress together, but rather only the area struck. Given where a beard actually lies, a punch landing on the chin would compress about 1/3 of the beard or about 0.06 ounces or 3/50 of an ounce. For reference, according to the above numbers it would take a beard of about 20 inches length to weigh a single ounce.

Long story short any cushioning a beard offers is statistically insignificant, especially when you consider the fact that a knockout is caused by the cranium hitting the frontal lobe due to a sudden and violent acceleration.

Edit: To clarify for anyone who may not understand this post (and then delete their post): The weight of your supposed cushion is obviously important as 100 pounds of feathers will offer more cushion than 10 pounds of feathers. 0.2 ounces (the weight of our 4 inch beard above) is essentially the same weight as one of the small cotton rounds my wife uses to remove nail polish. It is quite clear that this "cushion" will not have any sort of statistical impact on punch resistance.

[tiny_acres]

An average one inch long human hair weighs about 50 micrograms.

The average beard is approximately 30,000 hairs.

50 micrograms times 30,000 = 1.5 million micrograms or 0.05 ounces.

Say a beard is 4 inches long, we take 0.05 ounces times 4 and we get 0.2 ounces.

So a 4 inch long beard would offer up about 1/5 of an ounce of weight. This weight is not solidly packed, but is rather spread across the entire face. If a punch lands the entire beard does not compress together, but rather only the area struck. Given where a beard actually lies, a punch landing on the chin would compress about 1/3 of the beard or about 0.06 ounces or 3/50 of an ounce. For reference, according to the above numbers it would take a beard of about 20 inches length to weigh a single ounce.

Long story short any cushioning a beard offers is statistically insignificant, especially when you consider the fact that a knockout is caused by the cranium hitting the frontal lobe due to a sudden and violent acceleration.

Great post. Great info.
If this doesn't convince them nothing will

[Ilya Muromets]

An average one inch long human hair weighs about 50 micrograms.

The average beard is approximately 30,000 hairs.

50 micrograms times 30,000 = 1.5 million micrograms or 0.05 ounces.

Say a beard is 4 inches long, we take 0.05 ounces times 4 and we get 0.2 ounces.

So a 4 inch long beard would offer up about 1/5 of an ounce of weight. This weight is not solidly packed, but is rather spread across the entire face. If a punch lands the entire beard does not compress together, but rather only the area struck. Given where a beard actually lies, a punch landing on the chin would compress about 1/3 of the beard or about 0.06 ounces or 3/50 of an ounce. For reference, according to the above numbers it would take a beard of about 20 inches length to weigh a single ounce.

Long story short any cushioning a beard offers is statistically insignificant, especially when you consider the fact that a knockout is caused by the cranium hitting the frontal lobe due to a sudden and violent acceleration.

You're talking about the weight of a beard. What does the weight of a beard have to do with the fact that hair is a cushioning material? I just told ya cushioning material is light weight and mostly air, whether it's human hair, horse hair, plastic foam, whatever. They don't make cushions out of lead.

You're ignoring what i said above, like common sense, dude. Cushions cushion. Hair is a cushion.

[punchoutsb]

An average one inch long human hair weighs about 50 micrograms.

The average beard is approximately 30,000 hairs.

50 micrograms times 30,000 = 1.5 million micrograms or 0.05 ounces.

Say a beard is 4 inches long, we take 0.05 ounces times 4 and we get 0.2 ounces.

So a 4 inch long beard would offer up about 1/5 of an ounce of weight. This weight is not solidly packed, but is rather spread across the entire face. If a punch lands the entire beard does not compress together, but rather only the area struck. Given where a beard actually lies, a punch landing on the chin would compress about 1/3 of the beard or about 0.06 ounces or 3/50 of an ounce. For reference, according to the above numbers it would take a beard of about 20 inches length to weigh a single ounce.

Long story short any cushioning a beard offers is statistically insignificant, especially when you consider the fact that a knockout is caused by the cranium hitting the frontal lobe due to a sudden and violent acceleration.

You're talking about the weight of a beard. What does the weight of a beard have to do with the fact that hair is a cushioning material? I just told ya cushioning material is light weight and mostly air, whether it's human hair, horse hair, plastic foam, whatever. They don't make cushions out of lead.

You're ignoring what i said above, like common sense, dude. Cushions cushion. Hair is a cushion.

You're asking why weight is important when discussion cushioning material? Seriously?

The weight of your supposed cushion is obviously important as 100 pounds of feathers will offer more cushion than 10 pounds of feathers. 0.2 ounces (the weight of our 4 inch beard above) is essentially the same weight as one of the small cotton rounds my wife uses to remove nail polish. It is quite clear that this "cushion" will not have any sort of statistical impact on punch resistance.

What you're suggesting is like saying blowing really hard when someone throws a punch will lessen the punches impact because of the wind resistance. While it's true in the most minute sense, it doesn't come close to offering anything remotely close to statistical significance.

[bigjack]

The power of a punch from a pro boxer is so heavy the cushioning a beard would give would be completely negligible

At last,someone talking sense