Storyline: When safety is the issue MMA beats Boxing in a TKO. Antiquated boxing rules need to change–for the sake of the fighters and to keep the sport alive. Written by Anthony De Vita, Conyers, GA
Is MMA as savage as it appears? According to Wikipedia, only four deaths have been associated with the sport. In the same span, however, boxing has accumulated at least 68 deaths according to ejmas.com. The history of MMA fighting is admittedly brief, especially when compared to boxing, which has been listing fatalities since the 1700s.
Courtesy: jacarandafm.com
Why does boxing, a sport with stricter rules and softer gloves, end the lives of so many of its combatants? As in so many aspects of life, just because a thing looks a certain way doesn’t mean that it’s a certain way. Big padded gloves look like they would be better for the fighters, but are they? Whether a fighter is struck by a heavy-padded fist or a lighter and harder one, the brain is still being rattled around in the head. The effect is still there, only the impact is slightly lessened. In other words, the shock is not as great, which means a fighter is less likely to be stunned and separated from consciousness, even though the damage to the brain may very well be identical to what an MMA fighter with small gloves would have suffered from the same blows.
And one also has to consider the sparring of both sports: MMA sparring often consists of grappling exercises in which no blows to the head are thrown. In boxing, however, all sparring involves throwing punches, the size of the gloves is increased, and protective headgear is worn.
In reality bigger, heavier gloves still hurt and no headgear can prevent a fist from rattling the brain. The brain is what needs to be protected the most and, unfortunately for all of us, it’s the last thing to reveal damage. A headgear and padded glove may keep a fighter’s face from cutting and swelling, thus allowing a fighter to take repeated blows to the head. But these blows rock the head, back and forth, in the same way that a smaller glove would have rocked an unpadded head. The brain shaken one way or the other and the pads allow it to be shaken again and again.
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A headgear does not protect the brain: it protects the face, and if anything, allows the brain to be rattled more times than it ever would be rattled under natural circumstances. When a genuine clenched-fist strikes the cranium, it does not have to be a tremendous blow to render a fighter unconscious. The layers of cushion allow consciousness to endure the shock of impact and, thereby, prolong the damage to the brain.
If earlier generations of boxers had been using bigger gloves–back when there were many more fighters competing–then the sport may very well have produced many more deaths than the American public would have tolerated. In fact, we may owe the very existence of boxing to the fact that our forebears fought with smaller gloves.
Let’s be clear: it’s not the intent of this article to oppose boxing. This author loves the sport and wants nothing more than its safe continuance. But, in order for that to happen, common sense will need to prevail. More padding has not helped the safety of boxing, no matter how obvious such additions may have seemed to have helped when more padding was adopted. The stark reality is that boxing makes more headlines with deaths and grave injuries.
So what am I arguing? It’s to emphasize that big, padded gloves wear do no good–none whatsoever. A rapid concussion, in this writer’s opinion, does less harm than a few hundred non-concussive blows. The brain feels everything … and no amount of padding will change that. Increased padding prolongs the inevitable, makes suffering last longer than it ought to, and extends consciousness beyond what its physical make-up can endure.
Boxers have guts or else they wouldn’t get in the ring. So it’s high time that the sport’s leading officials showed some guts and changed the rules. Antiquated rules have been shown by MMA to be groundless. Boxers will continue to die at a faster rate than MMA fighters unless serious changes are made.
Here are two changes that need to be put into effect.
#1: Boxers should fight with smaller gloves. Six-ounce gloves instead of ten would guarantee more knockouts, more excitement for the fans, and less sustained punishment for the fighters. A man or woman who is stunned beyond the capacity for defense would not be allowed to continue, which will save his or her brain from being rattled around until it starts to bleed.
Courtesy: Wikipedia.com
#2: Boxers need to spar fewer rounds. Most high-ranking boxers have had many amateur fights. There’s simply no need for these fighters to spar and take blows to the head as they do. Train. Get in shape. Practice all sorts of calisthenics. Work the bags and mitts, and by all means, have some intermittent sparring sessions to sharpen your skills, if there´s nobody to spar with, then just use the Best Free Standing Boxing Bag. But there’s no reason for experienced fighters to be constantly sparring. The current ethos of “gym wars” is killing our boxers and there’s no need for that sort of competition. Training is for development. Boxing matches are for competition. And commentators need to stop referring to these sorts of pointless gym combats in positive terms. The results of such unneeded exposure paves the way for dementia and death.
The bottom line is that boxers need to hone their skills in ways that avoid unnecessary damage to the brain. Sparring needs to take a backseat and the gloves need to be smaller.
After all, if a person with a wrestling or karate background can adequately defend punches with small gloves, then certainly someone who thinks of nothing else can do the same.
