Which boxing greats have suffered from Dementia pugilistica?

['Sugar' Freddi]

None that I noticed. He just seemed like a really cool old man. He didn't talk much about boxing and we didn't press him on it. He asked if we were enjoying ourselves, where we were from, what we did for a living and things like that. He cracked a couple of small jokes. I had later mentioned the meeting to John Scully on another board and he said Pep was always pretty laid back like that.

That's pretty cool. I guess there's different ways people can suffer from these kind of diseases, like Pep not having problem with his speech.

Pretty much every career pro with more than 20 or so fights experiences mental decline to some degree as a consequence of Boxing. Obviously not everyone is a wreck like Taylor or Benitez but there is definitely changes in speech patterns, just a slight drop in sharpness of the mind etc

Taylor is actually one of the worst cases I have seen, the man was slurring very very badly by age 35 or 36, 35 is not old at all, you are still relatively young in the real world at 35, and here Meldrick was sounding like an old drunk.

Benitez is pretty bad too, he was shot by the time he was 25 and was a pro since 15 so he would have been showing serious signs probably by his late 20's even.

That's why I don't like disrespecting fighters a lot on here, they put a lot on the line in this sport.

Me too, man. It's not easy to step in the ring knowing that one punch can end your life. It really is scary if you think about it.

There's guys that will never suffer because they don't stay in the business for too long, and have a good defense which makes them to not take many blows to the head. Mayweather is a good example, I don't think this dude is going to have any problems in his life because he took blows to the head. Don't ya think?

[Method Checker]

That's pretty cool. I guess there's different ways people can suffer from these kind of diseases, like Pep not having problem with his speech.

Are you a moron or something? Have you not read anything that I wrote in this thread?

JAB met Pep, in 2000. Pep was still okay, by then. In the last few years of his life is when he suffered from it. JAB might have met Pep in just the right time.

All boxers that some from it have problems with their speech.

['Sugar' Freddi]

Are you a moron or something? Have you not read anything that I wrote in this thread?

JAB met Pep, in 2000. Pep was still okay, by then. In the last few years of his life is when he suffered from it. JAB might have met Pep in just the right time.

All boxers that some from it have problems with their speech.

Listen, I did read what you said, JAP met Pep in 2000, and Pep died in 2006. When Pep died, he was 84 so that's only a six year difference when JAP met him and when he died, wouldn't he already have had some problems with his speech at least? Maybe not as much, but noticeable.

And why can't you have a proper discussion without insulting someone? It's pointless, just ****ing pointless.

[JAB5239]

Listen, I did read what you said, JAP met Pep in 2000, and Pep died in 2006. When Pep died, he was 84 so that's only a six year difference when JAP met him and when he died, wouldn't he already have had some problems with his speech at least? Maybe not as much, but noticeable.

And why can't you have a proper discussion without insulting someone? It's pointless, just ****ing pointless.

I think everybody is different. Trauma or the inability to do the things you use to do may accelerate it though. My grandfather did hard physical labor until his early 80's. Shortly after my grandmother passed away his mind just seemed to wander off. To me it seemed he had gotten Alzheimers over night. I know this isn't exactly what we're talking about, but I think it has some bearing on it.

[Method Checker]

Listen, I did read what you said, JAP met Pep in 2000, and Pep died in 2006. When Pep died, he was 84 so that's only a six year difference when JAP met him and when he died, wouldn't he already have had some problems with his speech at least? Maybe not as much, but noticeable.

And why can't you have a proper discussion without insulting someone? It's pointless, just ****ing pointless.

It varies in time. He did suffer from Alzheimer's and I suspect that he had a speech problem, as well. I don't know any boxer who suffered from the disease that didn't have some sort of speech problem.

And it's kinda hard to keep my cool when I've responded to the speech problem issue twice before and people ignored it.

[Sugarj]

Heres a few who appear to have suffered at the least mild issues that haven't been mentioned yet, whether officially diagnosed or not:

Joe Frazier
Rid**** Bowe
Ken Norton (well the car crash wouldn't help either!)
Tunney Hunsaker
Primo Carnera
King Levinsky
Tommy Hearns
Nigel Benn
Leon Spinks


Hell, not everyone can emerge unscathed like George Foreman, Jake La Motta or Barry McGuigan.

[Suckmedry]

[B]

Make you wonder how many trail horses and journeyman have ended up with this disease. We only hear about the high profile fighters who have it, imagine how many guys who never made peanuts in their careers have ended up like this? I didn't see Jason Litzau's last fight but I heard he was slurring his words terribly afterwards. 15 years from now he'll be forgotten by most but could possibly end up with this disease as the only thing he has left from boxing, much the same as Taylor but with out the fame and glory Meldrick was able to achieve.

That's true, and sad too. Boxing is a cruel sport sometimes.

[sonnyboyx2]

Muhammad Ali
Jerry Quarry
Mike Quarry
James Toney

[General Zod]

Heres a few who appear to have suffered at the least mild issues that haven't been mentioned yet, whether officially diagnosed or not:

Joe Frazier
Rid**** Bowe
Ken Norton (well the car crash wouldn't help either!)
Tunney Hunsaker
Primo Carnera
King Levinsky
Tommy Hearns
Nigel Benn
Leon Spinks


Hell, not everyone can emerge unscathed like George Foreman, Jake La Motta or Barry McGuigan.

Nigel Benn seems ok to me, off the top of my head Meldrick Taylor, Muhammad Ali and James Toney

[GJC]

It varies in time. He did suffer from Alzheimer's and I suspect that he had a speech problem, as well. I don't know any boxer who suffered from the disease that didn't have some sort of speech problem.

And it's kinda hard to keep my cool when I've responded to the speech problem issue twice before and people ignored it.

To be fair to Pep, when Jab met him he was mid to late 70's.
Once you get to that age a few minor undetected strokes mixed with a ******* dose of alzheimers could explain it?
Difficult to tell, boxing obviously does have an effect as does old age so maybe Pep who looked pretty good in his mid to late 70's maybe isn't the best example.
Not an expert on biology or boxing but getting to be a hell of an expert on old age by the day.