Comments Thread For: Making The Sport Safer: Standing 8 Counts and Early Stoppages

[Nightfall]

Maybe add a extra 30 seconds in between rounds so the docs can get a better assessment. ?

[CaptainWalrus]

Weigh-in on fight day.

[ShoulderRoll]

How about having a fighter's corner throw in the towel? Let's put some of the responsibility on a fighter and his team.

Because let's be honest, you are never going to completely remove all risk from this sport. Unless you ban it completely.

So all fighters must know exactly what they are getting into and do so willingly. And leave instructions with their corner about when they would want a fight to be stopped.

Ultimately it is their life so it is their choice.

[JakeTheBoxer]

Weigh-in on fight day.

This. Fighters should fight where they belong. Yo are not a welterweight if you have 155 day after weight-in.

[Combat Talk Radio]

I'm frankly tired of seeing this "what if" kind of post. Happens every time there's a death.

Is not that I don't support change. But talking about the wrong changes is annoying.

Steve Willis (ref) talked about this. And I completely agree with his assessment. If you're really a fan, you owe it to yourself to watch this.

[elfag]

Boxing is inherently risky. There is always some risk of serious injury or death.

While of course I am for them looking into methods to make it safer, I dont want them to ruin the sport in doing so.

Since boxing is less popular, the calls to ban or really ruin it are greater. I dont see people trying to ban Nascar every time a driver dies or ban the NFL every time someone gets CTE, since those are immensely more popular and there is so much money involved, boxing is treated differently.

[CaptainWalrus]

This. Fighters should fight where they belong. Yo are not a welterweight if you have 155 day after weight-in.

Hope they do it. Politics might kill it's chances though?

[Ajvar]

Standing 8-count is a must... but it would NOT help saving this life here. Boxer was running so no standing KD and nothing mentioned in the article could save him.

What actually could save him:
1. Rule to have some hair on the side of the head. Should be prohibited to cut it totally out.
2. Weight limits weeks before a fight and same day weigh-ins.
3. better differentiation of gloves by division as people mentioned above.

Additional steps:
1. 3 RD in a round rule. If it's 3rd KD it's TKO. Most referees do it anyway but not some.
2. Standing KD - but only when fighter can't protect himself, meaning either when fighter blocked in a corner without 'showing something' or he is knocked away but somehow still standing. In the first scenario fighter now gets TKO while he might be totally OK. In the seconds scenario fighter is KTFO as he is standing duck.
About standing

[b Murphington]

Early stoppages seem to be the only thing I can think of that would make it completely death free.

The sport would be changed to a game of “who hurts who first.”

Pillows for gloves would work too.

Shorter fight durations would help too.

All of this is going to take years and years to implement and some of these will never happen, but I imagine at least one of these ideas will be implemented at some point.

[Mister Wolf]

Bringing back same day weigh in would help a lot. It never should have changed.