Make boxing safer by using head-gear and heavy gloves

[Kid Achilles]

What boxing needs is good referees who were former fights themselves and understand what is going on in the ring and when a fight needs to be stopped. In the current state, the way referees are chosen for fights is rediculous. It's politics. The high profile referees are rarely the best men for the job.

[NeverBX]

Head gear in professional boxing? Who would pay to see that. Boxing is entertainment first, sport second, lets get that clear.

If we do have headgear in the pro circuit then we need to have also a tag-team boxing match.......wait that sounds interesting. Hmmmmmmmm.

Would you guys watch a tag-team boxing match? Of course the winning team would be the boxer left standing. Both members of the team must be defeated for the other team to win.

Sorry I'm bored at work.

[- Evil -]

Why not require head-gear and heavier gloves to professional boxing, as they do in amateur boxing?

This will give an edge to boxers who have skills, but will make things a lot safer.

From a safety point of view i dont wear a headguard when sparring, it limits my view and makes me get hit more.

I dont think pro's should ever wear guards because it will kill the sport, which in turn will kill all the no hopers who use boxing to change their lives.

Boxing only takes a few lives but saves thousands.

12oz gloves would be OK though, just as long as they are made streamline so its no too bulky. But if i'm honest i'd prefer to keep things as it is.

[-Spectre-]

The come from behind victory is one of the things that makes boxing such a great sport though. You'll never see a baseball game where Team A is kickiing the **** out of Team B only to have Team B score a victory in the last minute.

Last year Red Sox. Braves 7 run 9th inning about 2 years ago. This year they had a 10 run 9th inning against the marlins

[Bozo_no no]

Head gear and bigger gloves is a ****** idea.

As mentioned, head gear protects agaisnt cuts primarily, and limits vision.

Bigger gloves would only prolong beatings, lessing the instance of KO's allowing fighters to take more punishment.

It's a tough call beyond that, because havin a ref or corner obligated to stop a one sided fight would prevent a come from behind KO, which is a vital part of the sport. Boxing isn't just about points, so when someone is behind going into the final rounds, they have every right to have the opportunity to go for the come from behind KO.

There just isn't a simple sollution for this.

The only answer is to hope corners will know their fighters well enough to make the call should their fighter be in trouble.

But again, there's no way to make that mandatory.

The only way to ensure guys aren't going to seriosuly injure eachother is to prevent them from hitting eachother.

[Pak men]

Point is... if you're afraid of brain damage, stay away from boxing.

[n14061981]

I think there are some things that can be done to at the very least prevent some tragedies.

There should be a very extensive medical tests and brain scans before each fight. Now I know this will not save you from a beating and injuries sustained in this beating but it could help prevent some tragedies. There should be very good tests now to see how much damage a fighter has accumalated in his carreer and maybe even how much he can take. I mean come on, we live in 2005 now.

Also, there's a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of referees, doctors, corner men and IMO even the fighter himself.
Quitting should not be as much as a shame as it is now. Only the fighter can tell how he feels.

[Dirt E Gomez]

I agree with most of the posters that headgear and heavier gloves are a nono. Judges simply have to be smart about these things. Everybody loves a comeback and doesn't want a fight to be stopped, but then things like this happen.

I agree with bozo as well that corners should hold more responsibility. They should know when their fighter has had enough and be able to immediately stop a fight if they wish to.

[Parodius]

No headgear. All fighters should be tested before each fight. Man you had fighters like jake lamotta that took more punches then anyone else, nothing happened to him. Some people should be banned from boxing, if they have some problems with their health. Last thing I want to see in the greatest sport in history, is some headgear.

[druth]

Is there data to show that headgear is more/less harmfull to a fighter?

I suppose we can only rely on opinions of professionals.

If you haven't ever sparred with headgear, I'm sure most of the people who have can relate to this:

Getting hit with headgear hurts just as much without, and often it seems to have a more jarring effect. I'd rather fight without it, personally.