BoxRec

http://www.secondsout.com/uk/news_54917.asp


Seems unbelievable...

Yes, I posted this on the General Forum last night, but they all seemed to think it was funny.

i dont have a problem with it,

lots of fighters have pins in their arms etc, does that mean they have an unfair advantage,

REAL_DEAL wrote:i dont have a problem with it,

lots of fighters have pins in their arms etc, does that mean they have an unfair advantage,

Well there's a bit of a difference between having metal in your arm and in your head!

And how could it possibly give him an advantage?! The question is, should he still be boxing after brain surgery?

bennie wrote:Yes, I posted this on the General Forum last night, but they all seemed to think it was funny.

True, all the good old metal detector jokes surfaced, but like i posted Secondsout writer Thomas Hauser's piece, he seemed to think it was scandalous and far from a joke.

It all seems to have gone quiet on this since Thomas Hauser broke the story on SecondsOut.com yesterday. But I have a feeling this could develop into something big. I mean, to have a metal plate inserted in the skull means there was a weakness (or a hole) there in the first place.

In 1997, Marco Antonio Barrera had surgery to remove a very small group of malformed blood vessels in his head. The surgery was successfully performed in Mexico City by Dr. Ignacio Madrazo, a top neurosurgeon who also previously treated Muhammad Ali. As part of the procedure, a few small, protective implants were inserted at the point of surgery. The implants provide no competitive advantage or disadvantage.

Marco was cleared by his doctors to continue his boxing career shortly after the surgery. Marco has had numerous MRI's and other neural examinations in the six years since the surgery. Not one examination has revealed any damage, injury or abnormality. Marco has consulted with neurosurgeons in both Mexico and the United States, including specialists from the UCLA and USC medical centers. A June 2003 medical report reflects what Marco has been told since shortly after the surgery: "t is clear that Mr. Barrera's neurosurgical condition does not imply any risk for his professional boxing activity at all. He is able to perform any kind of training and/or boxing without any different risk of what the profession produces in any other human being." In addition to a clean bill of health provided by his doctors, Marco has fought 16 bouts since the surgery with no ill effects.

Marco's former promoter and manager were fully aware of the procedure. They were each provided with copies of Marco's medical records with the understanding that they would disclose the information to the appropriate parties, including the relevant boxing commissions. When Marco very recently learned that the information had not been timely disclosed, he immediately acted to remedy the situation.

Marco loves boxing, but as a husband and a father, he would not continue to box if the surgery had created any additional risk of injury to him from boxing.

The above makes it sound like he has some surgical pins and screws which were used to stabilize the surgical site, not a metal plate covering a hole in his skull, as the initial posts about this suggested. No brain surgeon in his right mind would remove a piece of the skull to get at the brain and NOT re-use the original bone to close the opening, but he might use some artificial fasteners to hold the reattached bone segment in place until it fused again with the rest of the skull. After the fusion the screws and/or plates are no longer necessary, but doing another procedure to remove them is equally unnecessary, and in fact places the patient at higher risk than leaving well enough alone, because every surgical intervention has some risks associated with it.

Sounds like much ado about very little to me.

Eric the Viking wrote:Sounds like much ado about very little to me.

Yes Eric it could be but is it unfair on other boxers who have had their licences revoked or suspended for a while for head injuries( eg Wayne McCullogh)?
Does this open arguments for other minor brain trauma suferrers?
Would future concerned opponents be aprehensive implying headshots to MAB?

I dont know,maybe its "just a storm in a teacup" but there is definately a serious side to this.