80% of boxers have some sort of brain damage

[dkm]

that's what a side note said in this month's Men's Fitness magazine. Hard to believe......but is it true?

[Thai Bri]

Why is it so hard to believe? Every solid punch costs a few thousand brain cells. And they don't grow back.

[Great Sage]

The same can be said of alcoholics...

[Roland]

80% of all statistics are made up.

[Tom Yum]

and 80% of those made up statistics come from fictional sources.

[hashpuppet]

youre all just mad cause we're all retarded

[Angel-of-Death]

I think you get ‘punch drunk’, which 50 percent of professional boxers apparently suffer from these days and then you get Parkinson’s or something. Just think about, you get hard hits to your head, how can that be good for you? It’d most certainly be bad.

Course you can force your brain cells to grow back, using anti-depressants like Prozac.

Note that I just heard antidepressants grow new brain cells so I’m not actually advising anyone to try it. Using any medication which messes with your brain isn’t smart without a prescription. And if you don’t have a prescription for antidepressant and possess them anyway it’s illegal, too.

[big_cat]

But the real question is whether or not we were brain damaged BEFORE we got into the ring? Think about it, how natural is it to want to put yourself in harms way like that?

[Wilson]

Well in response to the reply above. Maybe we are a different breed. Before I started this boxing thing I was an elite ice hockey goalie. I took frozen rubber discs to my head and other parts of the body at over 90 mph

[cross]

Alot of people say, "traditional martial arts who do light contact sparring are weak blah blah blah". But in light sparring, you still know when you get hit and that you need to cover up better next time.

Also you dont take constant blows to the head so you dont get brain damage. I mean its pretty certain you will get hit on the street if your in a fight, but i would rather get hit once on the street and lose a few brain cells, than get hit all the time and constantly lose brain cells.

Not to mention boxers sometimes think, "i wont worry about covering up, cause i can take the punch if i get hit" but in other matial arts, you have the mentality that you dont want to get hit and you "need" to cover up or get out of the way.


Im not saying controlled contact sparring is not needed, its good to test your skills ever now and then, and traditional schools are starting to realise this. But you can also test and learn new skills including "control" from light contact sparring.

[big_cat]

Well how do you know that what you practice will work?? If you've never had to go against a guy that wants to take your head off, then what are you going to do when he really wants to take your head off? And I'm willing to bet that the brain cells that we've lost are comperable to that of a long time alocoholic, except that we don't get liver damage as well!

[Thai Bri]

Throwing "light contact" strikes is a very different mechanism to hard ones. You are literally training yourself not to hit hard.

[decypheredbeats]

Originally posted by Thai Bri
Throwing "light contact" strikes is a very different mechanism to hard ones. You are literally training yourself not to hit hard.

I completely agree.

[cross]

If you do it properly you are hitting full power, just not touching or lightly touching your opponent

[swagman]

Originally posted by Great Sage
The same can be said of alcoholics...

must be hearing lots of echos then !!!