ABSTRACT
It is now time to address the question as to whether the extent and severity of serious physical injury resulting from boxing is sufficient to qualify the autonomy of boxers by imposing limitations on the conduct of their sport, including the possibility of a complete ban. It follows that the central issue is to ascertain how ‘dangerous’ boxing is, both in absolute terms and relative to comparable contact sports. There are five identifiable themes. First, the frequency and causes of fatalities in the ring is discussed. The media attention devoted to such events is always significant, arguably disproportionately so. Nevertheless, it focuses the debate on the sport’s morality and legality and it has often acted as a catalyst for change. Second, the incidence of brain injury resulting from boxing will be noted. Third, the incidence of death and brain injury in boxing compared to other relatively high-risk sports is examined. Fourth, some recommendations regarding the means of minimising brain injury – it cannot be entirely prevented – in boxing will be outlined. Critically, it is argued that such is the intensity of the medical case and campaign against the sport that if these recommendations are not implemented with alacrity the sport’s current legal status might be vulnerable to review. Indeed, proscription might even be justifiable on this ground alone.
