by David P. Greisman
Butting is more than skin deep.
When heads clash, the most visible wounds are the cuts – gashes that range in location, usually from below the eyebrow to above the hairline, and range in severity from slits that stop bleeding quickly to splits that pour crimson continuously.
The consequences that are most harmful are not always those that are most visible.
That was the case with Al Seeger, a 122-pound former world title challenger who was hospitalized with bleeding on the brain following his Oct. 23 loss to Victor Fonseca.
That was the case with Edgar Sosa, a now-former 108-pound beltholder who lost his world title and was sent to the hospital following his Nov. 21 loss to Rodel Mayol.
And that was the case with Nate Campbell, a former lightweight titlist who needed medical attention following his Aug. 1 “No contest” with Timothy Bradley.
The Seeger bout ended in the ninth round by technical knockout. The damage was done seven rounds before by a head butt.
“It’s not a great angle to see [on the broadcast], but I can hear the crack it made,” Seeger, since out of the hospital and recovering, wrote in November on the BoxingScene.com message board. “For the rest of round two and three, there is also an obvious indentation on my forehead. This was the result of my sinus cavity being smashed inwards. I think after the third round, the area started to swell, which made it appear normal again.”
But the internal injury was graphic, and literally so, for Seeger’s surgeon took a picture of the boxer’s new “titanium cranium,” as Seeger described it in posting the photo on the MaxBoxing.com message board.
One can see a surgical tool pulling down a slice in Seeger’s forehead, making an opening the shape of an upside-down triangle, more than two inches long at top, more than an inch long at the other two sides. The opening reveals enough metal that looks like part of a computer motherboard and more than a dozen screws holding said metal in place.
The Sosa bout ended in the second round by technical knockout, after Mayol trapped Sosa on the ropes with a flurry of punches, capitalizing on an opponent weakened by two trips to the canvas: one from an uppercut, one before that from a clash of heads.
The damage was done 23 seconds into the round, when Mayol ducked his head down and began to throw a right hand to Sosa’s body. Instead, his head crashed into Sosa’s face, opening a wound on Sosa’s left cheekbone and putting him down on all fours for 15 seconds.
Sosa had to have screws and two titanium plates inserted into his face – one near the orbital bone below his left eye, one near his left cheekbone and jaw.
The Campbell bout ended after the third round, originally ruled a technical knockout victory for Bradley, later changed to a “No decision” after an appeal ruling confirmed that Campbell’s fight-ending injury came from a head butt.
Bradley and Campbell’s heads collided in the second and third rounds. Fifteen seconds into the third, Bradley threw a right hand and a left hook, both to the body, when the top of his head bumped Campbell’s eyebrow, creating a jagged, diagonal gash that went from Campbell’s brow to below.
After the round ended, Campbell told his corner he couldn’t see, that he had spots in his left eye. A medical examination would later reveal he had a slight vitreous hemorrhage, bleeding within his eye. Fortunately there was no retinal damage.
When there are other fouls within a boxing match – low blows, blatantly intentional head butts – a referee will stop the action, perhaps take a point from the offending party, and give a fighter time to recover.
But when there are accidental head butts (or rabbit punches), the fight often continues without delay.
Rabbit punches at least draw warnings. A referee will merely tell boxers to watch their heads after butts, largely because a clash of styles and the nature of the sport (two fighters moving their heads while trying to punch each other and avoid getting punched) often mean collisions will happen.
The problem is that while some butts just lead to cuts that can be monitored as the fight goes on, other butts cause concussions and worse repercussions, those brain bleeds, fractures and hemorrhages that hurt Seeger, Sosa and Campbell.
The National Football League is finally taking steps to ensure that players who suffer concussions neither needlessly leave themselves in the game and take more blows nor prematurely return to their team when they should be recovering.
Boxers cannot necessarily tell the difference between being dazed and being damaged. They cannot check themselves out of a match. They do not have someone waiting on the bench to substitute in for them.
And referees cannot necessarily check on a boxer after a clash of heads and believe anything but what he can see. A fighter who is losing a bout could otherwise take advantage of the system and exaggerate their injuries so as to get out of the fight, which would either make the result a “No decision” or send it to the scorecards. This was the type of criticism that was directed, understandably but unfairly, at Campbell following the Bradley bout.
That’s if officials even see a clash of heads happen. The referee for Bradley-Campbell wrongly ruled the cut above Campbell’s left eye as coming from a punch, never mind the vitreous hemorrhage that would not have been able to be detected.
The referee for Fonseca-Seeger warned both fighters about accidental head butts on several occasions. He could not have known about Seeger’s brain bleed, but as the punches worsened the damage, he at least stopped the bout at the right time.
Football players could be asked to wear more protective helmets. Professional boxing will never move toward headgear; to do so would be contrary to the gladiatorial aspect of the sport, in which heroes are identifiable as they wage combat. And headgear, like heavier gloves, could make brain injuries more common – one-punch knockouts can look painful but actually do far less damage than repeated blows that jar the brain again and again and again.
There are no easy solutions. There are, at least, protective measures already in place: trainers who are supposed to prevent their fighters from taking too much punishment, officials and physicians who can also check on a boxer between rounds, and referees who are closest to the action and can err on the side of caution.
Those non-combatants, unlike the men wearing the trunks and gloves, can use their heads.
The 10 Count
1. Here’s hoping Lucian Bute keeps busy and stays in the spotlight while six of his fellow 168-pounders take part in Showtime’s super middleweight tournament.
Bute sent a message or two with his stellar knockout this past Saturday of Librado Andrade, letting HBO know he is a fighter worth continuing to spotlight, and letting the tournament contestants know there’s a legitimate challenge to any claim that the winner of the “Super Six” is the best super middleweight around.
The winner must face Lucian Bute for such recognition. Of course, Bute must stay undefeated in the meantime.
One possible opponent in the interim is Kelly Pavlik, a match that HBO is pushing for 2010, according to BoxingScene’s own Rick Reeno. Not a bad choice, should it come to fruition. Pavlik first has to get by Miguel Espino in December. And though Pavlik’s middleweight reign has been a disappointment, a move to 168 for the lanky power puncher seems overdue.
Other suggestions: Allan Green, who is an alternate in case anyone drops out of the Super Six; and the winner of the January title bout between Robert Stieglitz and Edison Miranda.
2. HBO’s commentators kept portraying Bute’s situation as similar to what Lennox Lewis faced in his rematches with Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, both of whom had knocked Lewis out in their first bouts.
I think it’s more apropos to compare Bute-Andrade 2 to the second fight between Arthur Abraham and Edison Miranda. Abraham, if you don’t recall, had gotten beat up but won controversially in his first fight with Miranda, then came back to dominate and knock out Miranda in their rematch.
3. Speaking of Lennox Lewis, how about this gem from HBO’s prized boxing analyst in the second round of Bute-Andrade 2:
“Andrade really wants to hit him,” Lewis said.
Ya think?
At least Lewis got in a good line after the first knockdown of the fight.
“When you keep tapping on the rock, any rock, eventually it will break,” Lewis said.
It was only the third time Andrade had ever been on the canvas. The first time was against Yusaf Mack in 2007; the second time came in the first fight with Bute, though should've been ruled a slip.
4. One word sums up my thoughts on the scorecards of the two Canadian judges who saw Ali Funeka-Joan Guzman as a draw:
“Eh?”
5. Sometimes uplifting stories and good writing comes from sad places (Part one):
The sad news is the death of Francisco Rodriguez, who died Nov. 22 in Philadelphia, two days after he lost to Teon Kennedy by 10th-round knockout. He was 25, married, with a 5-month-old daughter.
Perhaps the most difficult thing for a journalist to do is contact the family of someone who just died. The wounds are oh so raw. Family members have every right to say they aren’t ready to talk. But so often they do talk, taking control, ever so slightly, of a situation in which everything else is out of control.
They, through the journalist, let the rest of the world know who the person was.
And so we got Melissa Isaacson’s touching piece in tribute to Rodriguez on ESPNChicago.com. Give it a read. It’s worth it.
And, from this sad story, we heard the news that in Rodriguez’s death, others will have life – his organs will be donated. His uncle, who is on dialysis, will receive a kidney.
6. Sometimes uplifting stories and good writing comes from sad places (Part two):
Most people don’t know much about Devon Alexander. They might know that he is a 22-year-old, 140-pound beltholder from St. Louis. They may have seen his appearances on “ShoBox,” his victory over DeMarcus Corley on the Roy Jones-Felix Trinidad pay-per-view, or his title win over Junior Witter on the Showtime undercard to Timothy Bradley-Nate Campbell.
Most people probably don’t know that, of the 30 boys who trained alongside Alexander when he was younger, at least eight are dead, and another 10, including his brother, are in prison or have been in prison.
Nancy Armour of the Associated Press passed along Alexander’s story, of how he remained disciplined and stayed out of trouble, away from the drugs, crime and violence that consumed his peers.
A number of newspapers picked up an abridged version of the article. Good. This is the kind of story that can help a fighter get the fan following he deserves.
If only promoter Don King would do more with him…
7. Dear Chad Ochocinco,
Eight days ago, before your Cincinnati Bengals took on the Oakland Raiders, you sent out a tweet that made you sound like a twit:
“Goodmorning to all, top of the morning on this awesome footbal [sic] Sunday ALI-HOLMES=OCHO CINCO-NNAMDI” [sic] I damn sure ain’t HOLMES either”
Ocho, Ocho, Ocho. Holmes beat Ali from pillar to post for 10 rounds.
Then again, facing cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, you had just four catches for 67 yards, with no touchdowns.
I guess your tweet kind of wound up being correct.
8. I found out about Ochocinco’s erroneous tweet through Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column. And it only reminded me of another error relating to boxing history, one made by King himself Nov. 17, 2008:
“Tony Romo’s a hero. Marion Barber’s the truth,” King wrote. “Barber, down the stretch in Washington, looked like Alexis Arguello in the late rounds of those old fights against Aaron Pryor in the eighties, somehow finding a way and the burst and the stamina to make it to the first-down marker and bleed the clock further; he had 83 rushing-receiving yards in the fourth quarter against a defense that knew he was coming.”
One problem: Pryor knocked out Arguello twice, both times in the late rounds.
The excerpt was corrected by the next day. Even the best writers have occasional mistakes, and Peter King remains one of my favorite reads around.
9. Allen Iverson is as retired from basketball as Floyd Mayweather Jr. was from boxing…
10. Did anybody else know that former heavyweight Joe Bugner is on the United Kingdom's latest season of reality competition “I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!”?
'Cause I sure didn't.
Does anybody else care that former heavyweight Joe Bugner is on the United Kingdom's latest season of reality competition “I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!”?
'Cause I sure don't...
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com
