Comments Thread For: Boxing owes it to its fighters to stop letting them fight

[BoxingUpdates]

Taking punches to the face and body from rigorously trained athletes seems, in theory, like a profession with a very high rate of alienating its participants. Instead it seems to have an addictive effect. Fighters retire too late at a nearly perfect rate, no matter their skill level; if Muhammad Ali's desire to box can outlast his greatness, so can anyone's. You'd think more boxers would end up like Sunny Edwards, admitting that the sport has beaten the fight out of them at the tender age of 28.
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[JeBron Lamez]

"(I)f Muhammad Ali’s desire to box can outlast his greatness, so can anyone’s" is insane because nothing but The One who made him & a few select others could ever outlast Muhammad Ali's greatness ijs.

[Toffee]

The problem here is : Who is or are 'Boxing'?

There are so many bodies, businesses and organisations that none of them are really responsible for the fighters.

Ultimately I guess it's just prizefighting and it's up to the fighter if they want to fight for a payday and what they want to do with their earnings. You'd hope family might help someone with their decisions.

When it gets to the real old boys then it's pretty clearly the licensing bodies that are responsible. Or more to the point, they've been clearly irresponsible.

[M111]

The problem here is : Who is or are 'Boxing'?

There are so many bodies, businesses and organisations that none of them are really responsible for the fighters.

Ultimately I guess it's just prizefighting and it's up to the fighter if they want to fight for a payday and what they want to do with their earnings. You'd hope family might help someone with their decisions.

When it gets to the real old boys then it's pretty clearly the licensing bodies that are responsible. Or more to the point, they've been clearly irresponsible.

I guess in the context of the article ‘boxing’ are the commissions that grant people like Tyson a license to fight at 58 years old. If he’d applied for that license in the uk he’d probably have been refused. The issue is everyone knows who the lax commissions are so they just apply to the one that lets them do it - Connor Benn considering fighting under a US license whilst the uk refused him one for example.

Boxing needs a single, non-profit ********ically elected governing body. Turkey should fund that but then the Saudis aren’t big in democracy and independent bodies.