I recently read an article that boxing gloves could possibly be worse then bare knuckles. The reason for this is that most punches, glove-on, don't have the knockout power as bare knuckles, so a fighter can sustain more punches leading to serious brain trauma over the course of even a single fight. So pretty much what they are saying is that it is better for your brain if you were knocked out then to be punched 300 plus times over the course of a 12 round fight and still be fully conscious. Is it new science fact... or total BS, you tell me.
I gues if your talking about brain trauma it could be true. But getting punched without a glove cant be too good for your face. Personaly i would rather get punched with somone wearing a glove. My face is much too pretty to be deformed.
My kickboxing instructor and close personal friend is 32 and already aware that he is mildly sufferring from the long term effects of strikes to the head. I think the results are very apparent with Nigel Benn. At least with bear knuckle punching it might hurt, and be over in a flash, but the injuries are short term and quickly heal. We can never be sure of the long term effects of being punched with a boxing glove, esp from concussion. The price we pay for the love of the sport.
This is why I don't support ring boxing, everyway you look at it you get smacked in the head. Well, my problem is really just with Pro boxing/pro boxers, like Anthony Mundane.....God damn. Frankly, if it were up to me, I'd remove the gloves. Knowing that fit hey were still there, that both fighters would be hit many more times in the head and face, and it could go on for rounds and rounds, so, knowing that one of them would keep receiving damage to the brain, I would remove them. With them gone, I can safely say that the fight might be over in a few rounds, and someone might be knocked out, instead of half conscious and still taking a beating to the brain.
old thread on same subject: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3353&highlight=bare+knuckle
Ahhh, that thread does discuss the same issue. Personnally I think one should just go with the MMA gloves and get rid of boxing gloves all together. The MMA gloves are nearly the same thing thing as bare knuckles, OR just get rid of all gloves and just use hand wraps, which is how I spar by the way. obviously in sparring we are not going for a knockout but I can see how a fight would end pretty quick when both fighters are only wearing wraps.
What about such thing as a nose that breaks in every bare knuckle fight? Of course, if you have no life outside of boxing that would be fine, but what if you did?
If you take away the gloves you will kill the entertainment value and increase the amount of injury to the hands I think. You would probably see far less punches without gloves on and no one wants to see two guys dancing around each other for five minutes at a time only to thow 3 or 4 punches.
well obviously no matter what we're trading one thing for another with the gloves. You may live longer fighting without them, but you'll look like the elephant man after a few fights. AND your skin will be made almost completely out of scar tissue after a few fights and then you'll start cutting extrememly easy. But like I said you wouldn't end up brain dead when you retire from the ring. Me personally I would rather just say to hell with pro boxing and do MMA competition instead.
I think the question we should ask is: As pro-boxer, what would you prefer to accept as a potential hazard (or to prefer to ultimately live with): a. Brain damage b. Broken/amputated limbs c. Internal Damage (eg. kidney damage, eye problems) d. Scar tissues You may also want to consider the above from the view point of your love ones.
from a spectator point of view, it would be better if the boxers wore gloves. if they didnt, the fighters would be very cautious and we would be seeing much punching at all. however, from a fighters point of view, i would rather have a lumped up face rather than be brain dead
Boxing gloves have been around for a long time, Jack Broughton was the first to start using them for training. Idea being they could get more upper class men involved if the faces didn't look so banged up. Queensbury rules where the first to use them for matches, much the same reason. Less banged up faces = doesn't look as "brutal" and more socially acceptable. Gloves also protect the hands, letting people hit harder. Preventing the clinch does too, more hooks and closer range punching. Standing 8 counts are also bad... once you need to stop you've lost IMO. but old style rules gave a 30 sec break everytime you got knocked down, so you could get knocked to the point you shouldn't continue there too... Anyway, lesson is having people punch you in the head really hard lots of times is bad for you. But are gloves good or bad? For sparring they are very good For competition, maybe... rules are just as important as equipment though.
Very interesting thread here, best way to take a look and get an informed opinion is to speak to a few people that have fought in bare knuckle fighting. One thing you have to remember is that in boxing there are many rules, ie. no kneeing elbows, kicking etc in bare knuckle fights any rules are very loosely followed and people regularly used butts, knees, feet, biting, gouging etc. From what I have seen people who have been in bare knuckle fights have far less effects on the brain than sport boxers, less of the punch drunknes and generally more withitness if that makes sense. Personally I am against bare knuckle fighting as a public sport for one reason, it would make our society more violent we have enough violence now without people deciding to go out and fight bare knuckle or to test it down the pub, by then we would have everyone fighting on their friday night drinking session. One advantage with bare knuckle fighters for speaking to is you can learn what has really worked as whatever doesn't work was discarded, useful learning tool.
The old bare knuckle fighters of long ago would sometimes go a hundred rounds or so. The gloves were actually to protect the fighters hands. Yes they also were used in training just as helments and occassionally pads were. My Grandfather taught me that in the old days before TV became the thing, boxing was much stronger, and men would have 40 fights or more sometimes before they ever fought for a championship. And these would be "contested" fights. Nowdays, they fight a guy against a bunch of pansies to build up his record and then they toss him to TV. The old boxing clubs in the cities and the military had fights every week. There were a lot more fighters and they fought many more years and they suffered greatly physically. Of course there were the caulifflower ears, the noses that were mostly are totally closed up because of the cauterizing to stop bleeding or because of the beatings and no real medical care. My Grandfather introduced me to a guy that had won 35 fights in a row going from town to town and boxing at places that were calling things like Township Auditorium, or Gyms, or other names for a hundred dollars. He was being touted as a possible "contender" but he rebelled against the discipline of his "manager" and got married and started drinking and you know the rest. Anyway the remarkable thing about this guy who was known as a charger was that his face looked like it had been beaten back toward the back of his head. GrandDad said the guy who was shorter than others in his weight class and had a shorter reach would put his head down and charge in and his face got hit a lot giving it that effect. He talked a bit funny too. Worse was what was then called "punch drunk" problem. Now we recognize it as Parkinsons syndrome or brain damage and the like. Nowdays it is a bit better because the guys even the champions don't fight that much, and the dangers are known for the most part. And they have more protection in the training.
