Fighter in medically induced coma after Saturday night

The UFC is already as corrupt as boxing. I can find the article, but not to long ago there was a story on the amount of twitter followers for A. Silvia, some others... even white himself and how most of them were either fake, or inactive accounts. Among the popularity of Floyd Jr. having some 3 or 4 million followers, MMA is attempting to try to act as though they are just as popular, and are able to keep up with boxing. I know MMA is popular, but they aren't pulling in millions of PPV's per event though they have more events overall.

If anyone wants me to find the link, I will.

 

2 more boxers in hospital: http://www.supersport.com/boxing/international/news/131117/Kiwi_boxer_in_serious_condition

"A New Zealand boxer is recovering from brain surgery after losing a light-heavyweight bout at the weekend.

Daniel McKinnon needed emergency surgery for life-threatening injuries after losing to Robert Berridge in a WBO Oriental title fight on Saturday.

By Sunday morning, the 30-year-old McKinnon was listed in a serious but stable condition in Hamilton's Waikato Hospital. However, it was reported later that he was doing well and was able to speak.

McKinnon and Berridge were both knocked down during the fight, which Berridge won by a technical knockout in the tenth round.

McKinnon complained of a headache about 15 minutes after the fight and was rushed to hospital where doctors operated immediately.

His manager, Ken Reinsfield, said on Sunday McKinnon's condition had improved after surgery "but he is not out of the woods. He's doing better this morning than he was last night."

Magomed Abdusalamov, a Russian heavyweight, is still in an induced coma two weeks after his fight against Mike Perez in New York. The 32-year-old also underwent surgery after taking a number of heavy blows during the bout at Madison Square Garden.

In Mexico, Jose Carmona left the ring on a stretcher after being knocked out by veteran Jorge Arce in a featherweight bout at the weekend. The fight ended in the eighth round and Arce later asked fans to pray for his opponent, who was reported to be in a serious condition."

I love the science of boxing, but i'm seriously considering not buying or watching anymore events... something really NEEDS to be done here.

 

This is much like Pacquiao Marquez 4... manny had just gotten up from being flat on his face for several minutes and then they are interviewing bob arum and manny is standing there and they ask about a 5th fight and bob arum says "why not"?!. Meanwhile, manny is still glass and half crosseyed from the KO.

 

Here's the thing - so long as fighters understand the risks, I have no problem with them taking them. What I have a problem with is sports trying to play down the risks and telling their participants that there isn't a problem and that they're not in danger.

Motorcycle road racing is far (far) more dangerous than boxing, but the riders know the risks and they accept them as the cost of doing what they love.

It is not the sport's job to make itself safe. They should do whatever they can to minimise the risks, but when the sport involves punching someone in the head over and over and over again, it's never going to be safe.

 

I don't completely agree about racing bikes. I wonder if you look at sanctioned races vs. pro fights how many have died/suffer severe brain injuries. A bike racer still doesn't take repeated punches to the head.

I love boxing, don't get me wrong. However, the guys punch, and they punch hard. Can you imagine even with smaller gloves how their might be more deaths in boxing? I mean most MMA guys aren't as good as many amateur boxers (no disrespect meant to them, but they practice the same 4 punches over and over vs ground, kicks, punches, so a lot more to practice)... either way I would fear for their safety.

 

Boxing would be a very long way behind road racing in terms of fatality rates.

But that's not the point. If the fighters/riders understand the dangers, who are we to tell them they can't do it anymore?

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here.

 

The point is that there have been people calling for smaller gloves and I don't know if that's any better of an idea, but that something needs to be done to make these sports safer.

It's easy to say "they know the risks", but these sports are just that... sports. How many people watched Ali in his prime and wished they could be like him and then see him now and wish the same thing? You think he knew what he was signing up for? You think the 3 people mentioned in this forum knew what they were signing up for? Maybe so, maybe not. That doesn't help their Wives or children though, they didn't sign up for it. I'd be willing to be that Joe Louis or Sugar Ray Robinson had no idea that they might wind up the way they did.

 

Yes, larger gloves were made to protect hands is the reason they increased in size, but KO's come much less often.

Part of the problem I see is it allows face first fighters to have more of a chance then they would have against a guy who is a true student of the sport of "hit and not get hit". Face first fighting is stupid. Anyone can learn how to punch, defensive fighting is a true art.

 

I'm all in favour of additional safety measures, I'm not sure who would be against them.

These aren't just sports, they are also people's livelihoods.

We're not talking about Ali. Back then we didn't understand the risks of repeated blows to the head. But today's pro fighters know that they risk brain injury and if they choose to accept that risk in exchange for the rewards of the sport I don't see why it is society's role to tell them they aren't allowed to.

Sure, nobody thinks it's going to happen to them, but so long as they understand the risks, they should be free to make an informed decision.

 

Good news here: http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/boxing/281754/boxing-fighter-recovering-after-surgery

Boxer Daniel MacKinnon was this evening conscious and talking to his friends and family, less than 24 hours after undergoing surgery to relieve bleeding on his brain.
The 30-year-old veteran pro had been left fighting for his life after losing a brutal light heavyweight contest with Robert 'The Butcher' Berridge on the undercard of David Tua's fight against Alexander Ustinov in Hamilton.

MacKinnon was due to be moved out of Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit tonight.

His wife and close family members spent Saturday night at his hospital bedside.

MacKinnon was stopped by Berridge in the 10th round of the fight in which both boxers were knocked down.

MacKinnon ended the fight on his feet when it was stopped by the referee and was able to conduct a post-fight interview in the ring.

Around 15 minutes after the fight he complained of head pains as he was preparing to take a shower.

He was then rushed to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

His manager Ken Reinsfield said this evening he was able to speak to the boxer on the phone and he was in good spirits.

"It was the best phone calls I think I have ever had - he is one tough individual.

"On behalf of Dan and his family I would like to send our thanks to the Waikato Hospital surgeons and staff for their outstanding care during what was an incredibly difficult time," he said.

 

I don't think people have known about the severity of what a head injury entails to be honest. I sure as hell didn't. It took getting one for me to realize how severe it can be. The fuss over head injuries that have been happening lately haven't always been around. I started noticing 'head injuries' in the news with the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan, then some people with the NFL, and the last two years fighters. I think it's a great thing, but I also think a lot of people are still ignorant about what can happen, I know I was.

Obviously the danger of getting hit, explosions, or collisions can be dangerous. Most people experience with being hurt though is a cut, broken bone, swelling, etc.. It's a whole different ball game with a head injury and I don't think people know THAT. I don't think they know they could be bed ridden, not able to even think (literally, not a writers block type not able to think, a "I'm trying to think and I literally can't), have dramatic personality changes, have anxiety/panic attacks when they try to get back into things, be disoriented to where they can't even get out of bed . . . . . etc..

I would say the same about people smoking in the past. I'm sure they didn't know it turned your lungs the way it did. When the real knowledge of what it did finally started getting out people started changing. Regardless though, some people just don't care either way.

 

Most professional fighters nowadays started fighting before it was widely understood that punches to the head could cause personality changes, depression, etc. Same with the modern military. Hell, when I was in school in the 1990s, I remember learning that the WWI term "shell-shocked" was supposedly based on bad medical information, and it was actually just PTSD or other psychological conditions. It's only post-2001 that it's become widely understood again that repeated concussions (whether it be from explosions or from padded blows in boxing or football) could have such drastic effects on the brain's functioning. Maybe the WWI term "shell-shocked" wasn't a misnomer after all, at least in some of the cases.

We all knew that repeated blunt impacts to the head might make you a bit less excellent at algebra and the like, but the appreciation of the full consequences these brain injuries have on personality and brain function, and how early those changes can onset...this is not something that I remember hearing anything about even in the late 1990s, not to mention earlier.

And the demographics from which fighters most often come--the working class--are the least likely to be up-to-date on recent neuroscience studies.

So don't say that all boxers and all football players knew exactly what they were getting into. Very, very few of them did.

 

But the likelihood and severity is all that matters, because every job has some risk. As a lawyer, I'm fully aware that there's SOME risk that an angry litigant could riddle me with bullets one day. A worker on an oil derrick knows there's SOME risk he could burn or drown. A coal miner knows there's SOME risk that he could suffocate alone in the dark. A race car driver knows there's SOME risk that he could be crushed in a terrible crash. A fencer knows there's SOME risk that he could be run through and die of a collapsed lung or pierced heart.

But it's the percentages that really matter, not the mere presence of risk. Only seven people in a century have died during fencing, at least half of whom weren't wearing all the required equipment (most weren't wearing plastrons). If you use proper gear, an impaled hand is the only injury that's reasonably likely. But we're now finding out that serious, permanent brain damage from KO-oriented combat sports has a frequency more like fencing's "impaled hands" than fencing's "punctured lungs"...and that's a very concerning revelation.

 

That's a very good way of putting it. Every MA has risks. When we start, we evaulate those risks to figure out if the added value is worth the risk. If it turns out the risk is 10 times bigger than we were told, it would be problematic.

 

You can be as frank as want with me for future reference. Making me blush with all this "strong young man" talk, lol.

Talking about just my current situation, I did know (was aware of) about head injuries before I started boxing. Since I hadn't experienced anything like it (well, I had actually from an IED explosion but was unaware of it and the severity it can reach) or witnessed anybody in that situation I can say I "knew about it" but I didn't "understand it." I certainly didn't know as much about head injuries until after my own.

Knowing what I know now, I absolutely would have still boxed. I don't think I'm the cliche, bull headed male in his youth at all. I've been around too much and seen too much to think I'm invulnerable. Saying that, these kinds of head injuries, even the one I have suffered from, aren't a "sure thing." We're learning that it happens a lot more often than we believed in contact sports/military sure, but the severity of them and how people deal with them hugely differs. My experience isn't the norm, and most of the time symptoms clear up within a week. Multiple concussions are most severe when one is received while your head is still healing from the first, and that's where the severe symptoms came into play.

One of the first things my wife asked the neurologist was if I would end up being like Ali or Freddy Roach if I kept boxing. His reply was that pugilist dementia is nowhere near as common as people believe it to be so probably not, but I needed to let this one heal up.

I actually do hope I'm able to do some competition again in a couple years boxing to be honest. Competing and fighting in general, for me, isn't just about fun or being a hobby, it's what I truly love to do. I would say the same about my military service if there wasn't so much BS involved and incompetent leadership/rules and regulations. I've always been aware of the risks, but for me the reward (happiness/being content) is worth the risk.