Should I quit boxing?

[jyxl]

Oh, and I’m not doing for money or anything. Just always wanted to experience an actual boxing match and being competitive in something I’m passionate about.

Used to play sports but never enjoyed proper training, however with boxing, I just can’t get enough of it haha. Even in my free time I like to watch boxing especially those with insane defensive skills like Pernel (rip), Floyd (back in the day), Loma.

[jyxl]

There is a quote from the movie Only the Brave that comes to mind for me:



Can you live with a jaw injury? Or can you die without ever having boxed?

Those ain't easy questions, and you're the only one who can answer them.

I’ll definitely think about this on a daily basis.

[ecto55]

I love boxing, even when I train till I’m fatigued and nasueos I try to rest and recover so I can do it all again the next day.

However... I’ve had TMJ for around 6 years and as I have been looking forward to start competing decided to get a check up with one of the top jaw doctors.
Everything was somewhat okay until my x-ray scan for my jaw got done. The shape of my jaw joint is quite different to normal and has slightly eroded...
The doctor said I can’t box anymore and when I asked about surgery she immediately refused because as long as my jaw can function ‘properly’ I don’t need it, but the only reason I waited half a year for an appointment was to fix my jaw to fight in the ring for once in my life.
And when I asked the doctor if I boxed anyways she said that the risk is much higher to injure my jaw, possibly permanently.

My only dream since young was to fight at least once in my life... But it seems that this has gotten in the way.
I know I can train without sparring/fighting in the ring, but that will just be depressing.
If I don’t get to fight just once, I’ll probably think about it for the rest of my life, and if I do get permanent damage I might regret it too...

I’m willing to put everything on the line and train to fight just once either even if it’s just something like a casual inter-club match, but one clean hit could change my life...

Any advice for or against continuing boxing is greatly appreciated.

Honestly, the amount of young boxers who are advised by doctors / medical professional not to box is pretty large.

In my experience, this can be for things like deviated septums (messed up noses), ear ringing, brain bleeds + memory problems (my case), and eye damage.

Everything (including these injuries / problems) has a place on the spectrum, but doctors tend to push it immediately to the 'extreme' if its within a boxing content.

I believe doctors have an almost philosophical / cultural bias against boxing (and really, even aggressive sports).

I copped a heavy duty subdural hematoma (brain bleed) as a young man which led to neural pathway damage and consistent short term memory loss whenever I'd spar afterwards.

It was effecting my work, so I saw my GP, who referred to the main neurology clinic in my city, I was seen / tested by the then-leading neurologist, who gave me the hard word re. irreversible brain damage etc, which I accepted for about 12 months.

After deciding to ignore he specialists advise, I got back to training / hard sparring, competing - with no real, substantial issues afterwards.

In my case, taking some time away seemed to fix things....but the specialist was telling me that I could do nothing with contact again - I recall him telling me I should never even head a soccer ball for example.

Just remember, these are the same people who say on television that they don't consider boxing to be a 'real sport' (exceptions exist obviously within the medical community), so is it any surprise they'd give poor advise on this topic.

I wonder if more options would open up to you (from them) once they knew you were going to fight no matter what....in a sense its a bit like not boxing because your worried your nose will get broken / damaged - its inevitable past a certain level.

All I'm saying is be judicious of expert opinions, see a second quack, because they're human and all human's have bias'.