Should boxing be banned as a sport?

An estimated 40,000 boxing fans watched Oleksandr Usyk bushed Tyson Fury astatine the Kingdom Arena successful Riyadh earlier this month.

Millions tuned successful implicit ineligible and amerciable streams crossed the satellite to witnesser Usyk support his rubric against Fury successful an enthralling contention that reportedly earned the boxers a combined $191m successful prize money.

Earlier this year, an estimated 60 cardinal households watched the punch-up betwixt ageing boxing fable Mike Tyson and YouTube personage combatant Jake Paul. This was successful summation to the 72,000 radical wrong the arena successful Texas that unneurotic paid a whopping $18.1m to ticker the combat successful person, according to the promoters.

Boxing: It’s a knockout

In 2024, the bonzer fig of eyeballs, online hunt queries and assemblage figures crossed viewing platforms confirmed boxing’s presumption arsenic 1 of the astir fashionable and followed sports successful the world.

But fixed the brutal quality of boxing, should it adjacent beryllium considered a sport?

While different sports are moving hard towards accrued extortion for participants, particularly from concussion-related injuries, boxing promotes the precise opposite: origin arsenic overmuch harm to your hostile arsenic possible, starring to submission oregon knockout arsenic a imaginable outcome, each of it intentional, celebrated and lauded with fame and fiscal rewards.

“Compared with different interaction sports, boxing has been known to person immoderate of the highest rates of concussion,” Dr Ejaz Shamim, a neurosurgeon and seat of Mid-Atlantic Kaiser Permanente Research Institute, told Al Jazeera.

“A concussion occurs erstwhile the encephalon thrusts backmost and distant hitting the wrong of the skull. This causes harm to the encephalon and occurs each clip a boxer is deed successful the head. Each concussive lawsuit is akin to traumatic encephalon wounded (TBI). With each TBI, determination is irreversible encephalon damage.

“It is thought that successful boxing, an idiosyncratic gets a concussion astir each 12.5 minutes of combat clip alone. The protective headgear does not assistance overmuch with the concussion. The interior trauma to the encephalon occurs each clip a boxer is punched successful the head, with oregon without outer caput protection.”

According to the Manuel Velazquez Collection which documents deaths successful boxing, an mean of 13 boxers are killed successful the ringing annually. Separate probe conducted by the Association of Ringside Physicians said determination were astatine slightest 339 deaths from 1950 to 2007, with a “higher percent astatine little value classes”.

The surreal show of a 58-year-old Tyson backmost successful the ringing delighted millions of his fans. But should the popularity, fame and gross the athletics brings absolve it of the risks and threats? And which outweighs the other?

“People whitethorn travel into boxing to vent choler and frustration, but they rapidly larn that these things person small oregon nary spot successful the grooming gym oregon the ring,” Philip O’Connor, a sports journalist, said.

“Very, precise fewer person what it takes to get successful the ringing to vie with different quality being utilizing a constricted regularisation acceptable wherever the nonsubjective is to sound your hostile unconscious oregon astatine slightest wounded them much than they wounded you.

“After a beingness of watching boxing and assorted martial arts and practising much than my just share, I tin accidental that from my perspective, the intelligence and carnal benefits acold outweigh the risks, but we indispensable ever strive to amended information and region oregon trim hazard to the top grade possible.”

Few questioned the imaginable longer-term aesculapian implications of a 58-year-old Mike Tyson (R) getting backmost successful the ringing and warring Jake Paul during their heavyweight bout connected November 16, 2024 successful Arlington, Texas, US [Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images]

Nothing amateurish astir boxing injuries

Studies amusement that up to 20 percent of boxers volition endure a concussion successful their careers, though galore are not reported, particularly successful amateur boxing.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, wherever boxing is classified arsenic an amateur sport, it had the highest fig of injuries, according to the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM). At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, it was 2nd to BMX.  Overall, it sits 5th successful the database of Olympic sports with the highest wounded rates.

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons says 90 percent of boxers prolong a traumatic encephalon wounded during their career. Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy reported that erstwhile boxers stay much susceptible to the earthy ageing of the encephalon and diseases of the brain.

While the World Boxing Federation (WBF) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions connected the brutality of the athletics and the information aspects, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said “providing athletes and spectators with the champion and safest conditions imaginable are apical priorities for the IOC and the full Olympic Movement”, adding that “Olympic-style boxing does not person knockouts arsenic an objective, nor bash knockouts person immoderate scoring advantage”.

A WBF spokesperson had earlier stated that “boxing does truthful overmuch bully for young people, keeps them disconnected the streets, distant from drugs, teaches them discipline, self-confidence, that the bully by acold outweighs the bad”.

Some studies constituent to adjacent higher rates of concussion successful amateur boxing ranks, owed to the underreporting of caput trauma [Pavlo_Bagmut/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images]

Boxing’s popularity

Given the past of the sport, the fig of participants worldwide and the finances astatine play, boxing is improbable to cease existing arsenic a sport.

In the United States alone, the fig of radical participating successful boxing reached astir 6.7 cardinal successful 2021, according to marketplace probe institution Statista, which added that the marketplace size of the planetary boxing instrumentality manufacture amounted to implicit $1.6bn successful the aforesaid year.

The full gross of the World Boxing Council (WBC) from 2011 to 2020 was much than $32m.

Forbes reported that nonrecreational boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr pocketed $275m from his combat against MMA-turned-boxer Conor McGregor successful 2017, with the second taking location astir $100m successful the azygous biggest payout successful the past of sports.

“In presumption of planetary media popularity, boxing successful 2024 is the 5th astir fashionable athletics successful the satellite and the astir fashionable combat sport,” Kamilla Swart-Arries, an subordinate prof astatine Hamad Bin Khalifa University successful Qatar, said.

“It has attracted legendary figures who person besides transcended their athletics to go planetary taste icons. Many boxers execute planetary fame. Coupled with the icons and relation models, boxing besides has debased barriers to entry, is easy accessible and fosters assemblage gathering with boxing gyms becoming integral to communities wherever youngsters tin fto disconnected steam and practise athletics arsenic an alternate to societal ills.”

Conor McGregor (L) and Floyd Mayweather Jr during their lucrative ace welterweight boxing lucifer successful Las Vegas, US, connected 26 August 2017 [Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images]

The mode forward

So alternatively than banning boxing, tin accrued information protocols, stricter regulations and banning definite practices guarantee the athletics becomes safer?

“Significant information improvements person been made successful boxing implicit the years to heighten the extortion of fighters and trim the hazard of superior injuries. While the quality of the athletics makes it high-risk, these advancements purpose to make a safer situation for fighters, minimising the likelihood of terrible injuries and fatalities,” Swart-Arries added.

“I don’t deliberation it [boxing] should beryllium abandoned arsenic determination are galore different sports that are besides deemed to beryllium dangerous. All these sports volition proceed to make planetary involvement and entreaty frankincense they won’t beryllium abandoned truthful it is important that they continually making improvements to marque them safer.”

Another survey published by the BJSM said determination are astir six to 8 injuries per 1,000 rounds of boxing. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of injuries successful boxing are terrible oregon perchance life-threatening, according to the BJSM research.

O’Connor, who is besides a martial arts coach, says “one boxer dying is 1 boxer excessively many”, adding that the athletics “still has a agelong mode to spell successful presumption of combatant safety”.

“Boxing has, successful immoderate form, ever been with america and volition ever beryllium with us. The nonsubjective should beryllium to guarantee it is tally successful a fair, transparent and harmless mode that ensures the carnal wellbeing of the participants. Any and each alteration should beryllium considered and implemented successful bid to uphold the integrity of the sport.”

Head injuries, including concussions, encephalon bleeds and skull fractures, are the astir communal and astir superior injuries successful boxing. Among different injuries are cuts, breached noses and oculus damage, bringing to the fore the brutality of the sport.

While probe is continuing, immoderate studies person suggested that up to 50 percent of erstwhile nonrecreational boxers whitethorn amusement signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a chronic degenerative encephalon upset – aft their vocation has finished.

“Concussion prevention is precise important successful preventing the improvement of imperishable encephalon harm successful the future,” said Shamim, the neurosurgeon. “Each concussion has an additive effect and with each concussion you are much astatine hazard of processing consequent concussions.

“One-on-one combat arsenic a spectator athletics similar boxing has existed for thousands of years and it’s improbable that it would ever spell away. But boxing carries with it a precocious hazard of concussions and traumatic encephalon injury. With combat sports, the hazard of concussion and different trauma volition ever beryllium there.”