How will a CTE test that can be done on an alive athlete change boxing?

[The Gambler1981]

LOL. I'm actually thinking VRish boxing becomes a thing. If you could have a guy fight inside a VR world to a worse VR ending then in a real boxing match plus have them feel some amount of comparable damage without any real damage being done that prevent them from fighting tomorrow or next week. Could become more popular then boxing has ever known in theory. VR tech needs to get there doe & thats just now becoming a thing to more & more people so I suspect thats a good 20 years away probably if not longer I'd amateurly guess.

VR could work plus with the rise of e-sports it could be a thing.

Or you could go crazy horror movie type **** have have clones do it, clones are not really people if that clone is controlled through vr by the original. Or go the West World route and have human like ai built to react like humans but be constantly repaired until that version is obsolete.


We probably aren't that far off from the sort of options, but something else would need to come first for the investment to come in to make such technology viable.

[_original_]

Sparring is for sure an underappreciated problem with the damage one takes in boxing. Some seem to think if it wasn't on TV then it doesn't count.

I've been hearing more MMA guys who've quit sparring already or severely reduced it ("Cowboy" Cerrone being among the more known). And I tend to think it is a overused form of training for experienced guys who know what a fight looks like & sparring tends to take away more from them for the fight they are training then it gives them for that fight.

Younger less experienced guys I think its a more worthwhile training tool to get them more used to what a "real fight" is like.

It's like when people wonder why James Toney sounds so punchy when he was a defensive wizard, it's because he was a well known sparring legend and it's pretty much all he would do fight or no fight in sight. Carl Frampton recently said he was going cut his sparring in half. I recall Sergio Martinez stating, when he was the man at MW, that he could only do like 40 rounds of sparring to prepare for his fights. holyfield is another guy back in the day who sparred miminally to prepare for Tyson, but had quality work with Tua.

From my experience in boxing, nothing really prepares you for a match like sparring. No matter how 'in shape' you are, you're never fight ready sharp unless you're constantly sparring, which in turn is a lot of damage to your nervous system. So it's a necessary evil but one that I think should be handled better. It's crazy to me seeing a guy like Spence sparring virtually every week. He literally joined Charlo's camp for no reason and sparred him for 9 weeks. This without him having any fight in sight. It worries me to see such a young guy put in so much sparring hours against champion level guys.

[aretrospective]

There has been more talk of CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in football then anywhere else, but this seems like it will be a game charger in contact sports across the board more & more in the future & specifically when there is a test that can be used on living people (you currently can only prove a person had CTE after a person has died).

What impact will this test being around in 4 years or less have on boxing specifically? More guys retire sooner? More guys fight less? More guys get forced into retirement? Boxing gets altered somehow for fighters to sustain less brain damage? Less people getting into boxing? Less fights in general?

All of the above IMO.

I'm no fan of the NFL, but having watched Concussion I have read up quite a bit on CTE, as I'm sure a lot of NFL / Combat sports athletes & fans have. It's clearly a bigger thing than anyone realised and with each early death or bizarre behavioural incident it's become the first thing which comes to mind.

I think it will lead to less people taking up these sports, taking them up at a later age, having deliberately shorter careers, fighting "safer" (in a way to take less punishment) and on the authority body side; earlier stoppages, hopefully better ringside care and after-fight care and potentially a shortening of Championship fights to 10 rounds.

[GhostofDempsey]

Interesting question. Olympic boxing has eliminated headgear in amateur fights. There is conflicting science as to whether or not the headgear protects fighters from concussions, since it's primary purpose is to prevent cuts.

There have been a lot of high profile boxers who have died of Parkinson's and other brain-related injuries due to repeated blows to the head. Ali being the most high profile of the sport. I guess the only way this really gains any momentum in boxing is going to come down to how many fighters and their families file lawsuits for compensation. That will likely be the driving factor behind any changes that may come.

[The D3vil]

Isn't a CTE test that a commission could make you get or require for part of your license getting procedure going to force commission to take some actions? Idk that I believe commissions will allow guys with CTE to fight. So the risk of injury in boxing or the X games is legit, but with a CTE test out there thats a whole different angle when you are considering a boxer or X games competitor fighting or doing a stunt & having CTE.

But I definitely agree with you that much of the decision making going on will happen outside of the sport with guys deciding boxing isn't worth the risk or worth the risk at a certain point of fame, celebrity or a nice enough bank account. I suspect a lot of cats would do their own CTE testing outside of boxing commissions to so you might never know how much CTE is having if you can tell from test to test how much further damage has been done towards a CTE outcome too.

Its for sure a big game changer for boxing in my eyes doe.

Whew, I didn't even think about a commission that could force you out.

That would be a game changer

[Eddy Current]

James Toney would read off the charts

[JJRod]

There has been more talk of CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) in football then anywhere else, but this seems like it will be a game charger in contact sports across the board more & more in the future & specifically when there is a test that can be used on living people (you currently can only prove a person had CTE after a person has died).

What impact will this test being around in 4 years or less have on boxing specifically? More guys retire sooner? More guys fight less? More guys get forced into retirement? Boxing gets altered somehow for fighters to sustain less brain damage? Less people getting into boxing? Less fights in general?

I don't think it will impact boxing as much as football.
Boxing today is no longer practiced in many public schools the way football is so there won't be too many parents pulling their kids out of boxing.

Most of the kids in boxing today come from poor areas with little hope to make it out other than to fight. CTE won't change that desperation.

[KillaCamNZ]

It would change the entire landscape of the sport. I'm not a doctor, but I can guarantee we can barely comprehend the cumulative damage that gets done to brains of professional fighters.

It's going to have far-spread implications - from sanctioning organizations being put under pressure to put up more stringent tests and roadblocks for borderline license applications, to insurance premiums going through the roof once the insurance companies have concrete evidence of the dangers involved. Boxers who struggle to get by as it is on their measly cut of a measly payday, are potentially going to have to fork out even more for insurance cover, or face the proposition of not being licensed to fight.

One thing won't change though - Promoters will pimp out their fighters within every inch of the law, and crossing moral and ethical boundaries, just to squeeze another buck out.

[Eff Pandas]

I don't think it will impact boxing as much as football.
Boxing today is no longer practiced in many public schools the way football is so there won't be too many parents pulling their kids out of boxing.

Most of the kids in boxing today come from poor areas with little hope to make it out other than to fight. CTE won't change that desperation.

I think this goes wayyyyyyy beyond school age years boxing. I mean I think even little things get massively changed like say making fights with legit KO artists being harder to make cuz being legit KO'd could end up being that time you pass over into the CTE zone on your test.

And there are still gigantic questions about CTE that no one knows the answer to like how many hits does it take before you come up positive for CTE. How many hits or concussions can you take before you go up a risk level or go up 2, 3 or more risk levels. So if a guy has been concussed 3 times should he even be allowed to box again because his risk might be so high of him getting CTE. This is for sure not a small thing for boxing & other contact sports & while the impact might more greatly impact the most popular sport in the US its also going to have huge game altering impacts on any sport where contact is key.

[Eff Pandas]

And randomly since I made this thread I've come to learn there are some cats who've got a machine that tests living athletes for CTE & Tony Dorsett among other football players have been shown to have it. So looks like this is around now, but the testing sensitivity & accuracy are still being questioned.