Brain trauma and boxing - Your thoughts?

[Spud MK2]

I dont for 1 minute regret anything i have got up to into my life and having had Parkinson's for 14 years i can look back
On my crazy 26 years in boxing... with GREAT pride...

Things are getting worse by the day i get memory loss which frustrates the mrs so she Has a whiteboard in the kitchen to remind me of things.

I have to go For a piss immediately when i need one otherwise i swamp myself.

I have to remember to sit in my chair because when i have a snooze and lie down on the settee and wake up i suffer from brain freezes and cant move they are crazy scary.

My speech is shocking when i Am on the phone I have too explain i am not piss,ed.

I am om thhe highest dosage of medication so
I am basically f?cked. .. no No and another no dont feel sorry for me.

Working behind the scenes in boxing has helped. It wa
Only short term despite a couple of offers

Thank u forv reading this

[jamesmcdonnell]

As an older bloke, even having mates the same age chomping at the bit to get back in the ring, I wouldn't put my brain through multiple concussions again. I've got a lot of life left to live and want to be happy with all my faculties.

Brave from early boxing training, I got bounced off the concrete by a tougher kid as a teenager and felt like I'd left a little bit of myself on the pavement even back then. I still messed around with combat sports for years after, but I do still wonder how much damage had already been done. I was very reckless after, got into trouble and suffered with depression in a way I hadn't before.

I've got a niece who really wants to box, and although I'll move about with her and show her things for fun, I've always discouraged her from doing it for real.

I remember years ago, was in the pub, and got chatting to this big, but out of shape posh rugby type, who as it turned out had played competive rugby in his youth, he was in his mid forties, and probably 3-4 stone out of shape.

He told me he was entering a white collar boxing event, and that his opponent was a 30 year old ex squaddie.

I asked him what on earth had possessed him, to do something so foolish, given the fact the squaddie had also as it turned out boxed in the army. I asked when his fight was, and he said four weeks time, and I said "You need to stop going to the pub mate, you're going to get a right kicking unless this guy is a midget."

I ran into him a couple of months later at the same pub, he nodded at me at the bar.
"How'd your fight go?" I asked him, knowing full well what the answer was going to be.
"It was stopped in the first" he said. "The guy was smaller, but much fitter and stronger and he just came out and starting smashing me to pieces right from the first bell. I got knocked down, and got up, but after that I had no idea what was going on - and when the ref stopped it, I didn't even know where I was."
I just shook my head.

I just don't understand why anybody with little or no background in boxing would contemplate getting into the ring. Especially in their 40's or older - even as a young and fit individual, it's fraught with risk.

I'm amazed more people haven't just keeled over and died of a coronary at these events to be honest.

I know a couple of guys who run white collar shows, they are both keen to have fair matches.
If 2 40 year old fellas with little experience and a bit overweight want to fight, it's all good. They are provided with proper training camps too.
Sounds like a bad match to me.

Yeah letting some overweight forty something with zero experience fight a fit not long ex squaddie with army boxing experience fight is dangerous.

[deadpan]

I dont for 1 minute regret anything i have got up to into my life and having had Parkinson's for 14 years i can look back
On my crazy 26 years in boxing... with GREAT pride...

Things are getting worse by the day i get memory loss which frustrates the mrs so she Has a whiteboard in the kitchen to remind me of things.

I have to go For a piss immediately when i need one otherwise i swamp myself.

I have to remember to sit in my chair because when i have a snooze and lie down on the settee and wake up i suffer from brain freezes and cant move they are crazy scary.

My speech is shocking when i Am on the phone I have too explain i am not piss,ed.

I am om thhe highest dosage of medication so
I am basically f?cked. .. no No and another no dont feel sorry for me.

Working behind the scenes in boxing has helped. It wa
Only short term despite a couple of offers

Thank u forv reading this

Sending all the very best to you boss.

[stujones]

Perhaps Chris Eubank Sr is the one who talks best today. In terms of big names being involved in epic wars in the 80s or 90s.

Besides the lisp/whistle.

Talks best - but then some of his behaviour in more recent interviews suggests some major issues, even if he can articulate himself well.

But then as with most things, there could be a host of reasons behind it - the loss of his son must have majorly impacted on his life, the social aspect of retirement, particularly for a person who loves the attention, some of his lifestyle choices post career (but again did any damage lead to changes in his personality which led to these lifestyle changes).

As with most things - there can be a host of reasons that could explain a major change in personality / character - Social, Emotional, Physical and Lifestyle or a combination of these?

Life is beautifully complex.

[mickey1975]

Tony Booth boxed at heavy when in reality was a middle. He's still sharp on mind and body now. Body spars 15 rounds with youngsters one after the other regularly.

[MPW]

Perhaps Chris Eubank Sr is the one who talks best today. In terms of big names being involved in epic wars in the 80s or 90s.

Besides the lisp/whistle.

Talks best - but then some of his behaviour in more recent interviews suggests some major issues, even if he can articulate himself well.

But then as with most things, there could be a host of reasons behind it - the loss of his son must have majorly impacted on his life, the social aspect of retirement, particularly for a person who loves the attention, some of his lifestyle choices post career (but again did any damage lead to changes in his personality which led to these lifestyle changes).

As with most things - there can be a host of reasons that could explain a major change in personality / character - Social, Emotional, Physical and Lifestyle or a combination of these?

Life is beautifully complex.

With all sincerity, your last sentence is a true pearl: Life is beautifully complex.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I think it is bloody obvious boxing is bad for your health, in a number of ways, but then I suppose so is being sat behind a desk, the different is the risk levels are far more catastrophic, and someone can go from fit and healthy to being left paralysed, permanenetly crippled or dead in the blink of an eye.

I struggled greatly with my devotion to boxing after the watson and mclellan tragedies came up pretty close together, and had to justify to myself, why I wanted to follow a sport that could do that to people. I guess I concluded that humans do all kinds of strange things and sport was itself pretty weird.

[Glass Joe]

10 years tomorrow eubank blackwell happened.

[dookus]

Tony Booth boxed at heavy when in reality was a middle. He's still sharp on mind and body now. Body spars 15 rounds with youngsters one after the other regularly.

Glad to hear he's doing well after 160+ fights!

[Bercli]

Tony Booth boxed at heavy when in reality was a middle. He's still sharp on mind and body now. Body spars 15 rounds with youngsters one after the other regularly.

Fair play to him,proper old school pro

[Spud MK2]

Tony Booth boxed at heavy when in reality was a middle. He's still sharp on mind and body now. Body spars 15 rounds with youngsters one after the other regularly.

Fair play to him,proper old school pro

Guttsy

[coneye]

Goung back a lot of years . I used to shake my head at my old trainer, his bluntness was legendary . In front of the gym he would pick someone out and say to them . I dont think you should come back , your not cut out for it , you cant take a punch . Or you hit like a little girl.
When i got older i actually said to him . You cant talk to people like that your embarrasing them
He said back to.me . GOOD its better they get a bit embarressed here than hurt in there . I remember saying to him . Why dont you just tell them were full . He said cos they will go elswherere and get hurt there .
I never agreed with him i always secretly thought it was a bit harsh and blunt

. JUMP FORARD a lot of years . I when coaching found myself using his excact words dont know if when i got older i just got softer or relized the damage it could do . Suppose this is why i have always been a firm opponent of mismatches and so called warm up fights i really dislike them .
In the ametrurs yoy have levels and the good ones go up in levels all the way to world championships . Commonwealth and Olympics .but basicly most fights are similar levels .
I belueve once you take the singlet off charge people to watch and get paid then you should fight the sdme level . This build him up by koing lower ability lads is bullshit to me i don t like it i could.nt care less what the future is for the A Fighter if hes getting paid he does.nt deserve a cheque and an eady win . Where he could hurt someone elses son and fathet

[Spud MK2]

Great post

[Tony1244]

Larry Holmes seems as sharp as he's ever been. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens to many.

[Spud MK2]

I often think Thomas Hearms has problems

[Controversial]

Larry Holmes seems as sharp as he's ever been. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens to many.

Tris Dixon mentioned maybe 2-3 years ago that Larry has onset dementia