Hey Dave:

I work in a federal space where I'm able to witness the amount of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) returning from iraq and afghanistan. A colleague and i were talking the other day and he mentioned how many death row inmates suffer from TBI. So now, having read this post, i'm thinking about these intersections in new ways.

Many sincere thanks to you, for the zillionth time, for lifting some truth out and putting the appropriate structures on blast.

In struggle and hope,
Emily Joye

Perhaps people are less shocked by the deaths of boxers because the "sport" has one aim: batter the other person's bare head until it causes a concussion.

This is standard Zirinism: always find a politically correct bad guy to hang your article on.

Who is the "politically correct bad guy" in the piece? It's not about good guys and bad guys. It's also not about banning boxing. It's about protecting fighters and making sure we aren't blind to the physical and mental damage they deal with on the job. If they are good enough to cheer for, they are good enough to care for.

The premise of your story is absurd: take care of the health of boxers whose very job is to bash the other person's head. That's really thoughtful Dave. Let's get them psychiatrists after their 5th concussion.

Then you somehow loop it back into the prison system. I guess it's easier to blame capitalism (although you're not exactly the model of clarity on who you blame) then the "sport" itself.

But it's easier to sell article and books when you have your nebulous bad guys.

Alex... I'm sure you're typing with a purpose other than the batshit gibberish above but then again maybe not. Zirin's piece could not be any clearer or cut to the heart of the matter any better. And Espada's thoughts wrap it up in a powerful way.

Try smelling salts and toss in the towel.

"Down goes Frazier!"

It is often difficult to explain to non-boxing fans the appeal of seeing two people trained in the art of pugilism going toe to toe. If it doesn't stir something in you that is primal, namely the excitement of seeing conflict in its most basic form, than you are likely to simply label it as pointless and barbaric. Incidents such as theese do not help to convert anyone either, although to be fair the vernon forest murder seems more a random act of senseless violence than anything connected to the inherent brutality of the sport he excelled so well at. If ever there were a group of athletes that could use more solidarity and oversight it is certainly boxers. John McCain may have made a horrible president but he at least recognizes this fact and has pushed for a national commission for years (not to mention a long overdue posthumous pardon for jack johnson).

Since when did unions make a difference in athletes' behaviour? Last I checked Ken Caminiti had a powerful union behind him -- which turned a blind eye to his drug abuse, both PED and otherwise -- and he OD'd at age 41. In fact, his union likely encouraged his PED use. How about all the obese linemen and rage-roided linebackers who apparently do not take advantage of weight-loss and detox programs offered by the NFLPA? Oh yes, if boxings had unions, it would ALL be better.

Beyond the fallacy of unions protecting athletes, how about the ludicrous argument that just because the public cheers for these multimillionaire athletes, they need to be protected and advocated for more than the average Joe who makes $40,000 a year? What's next, it's our job to save the Antoine Walkers of the world from gambling away their life savings? Maybe his union should have helped him out... oops.

Since when does "we like to watch" = "we have to care?" I didn't tell Gatti to become a boxer, why should I help him to seek divorce counselling, let alone mental and physical health treatment? I guess it's our, the public's, fault that we did not confiscate some of Gatti's millions and sign him up for health insurance. Our bad. Oh wait, Gatti's Canadian, he could have gotten FREE healthcare, psychiatric included.

Dave, I see symptions of dementia pugilistica in this article.

Steve-- you managed to waste a paragraph cyberspace without conveying a single coherent thought.

Boo-hoo, the Italian-Canadian Gatti was such an poor oppressed "sweet scientist" of pugilism.

I know you upper middle class white communists want to see Marx in every left hook, but sometimes a punch is just a punch.

Alex- your last paragraph is truly a work of right wing American art: ignorant fairytales. And which Marx Brother are you referring to? There were a few.

"Perhaps people are less shocked by the deaths of boxers because the "sport" has one aim: batter the other person's bare head until it causes a concussion."

Wrong. The purpose of boxing is beat your opponent and win. Your absurd logic is equivalent to saying the purpose of football is to crush a person's body until he's crippled. Boxing is the most difficult sport there is and its athletes are among the most skillful. If an idiot like you actually met a boxer you'd have a different opinion.

Every year since 1983, the American Medical Association has called for a ban on boxing, refusing to even license ringside "physicians" on ethical grounds.

A "knockout" is by definition a concussion which rattles the cerebellum until it mashes into the skull and causes blackout.

The truth is that mostly upper middle class white boxing "fans" like those who post on here don't care about people who box.

If you truly "cared" about boxers-- a rather laughable proposition-- you'd ban the "sport" or at least require head gear.

But no, you get off on seeing two guys bash each other's bare skull.

So, to salve your upper middle class white guilt, you salve your conscience with phony solutions like a union or "commissioner."

You pretend that a union or health care plan would somehow make an inherently violent "sport" safe.

Typical liberal-leftist sloganeering over reality. Pathetic.

As a fan of combat sports (boxing, mma, etc) I accept that there is a certain amount of brutality inherently involved in, but that can be said of other sports like hockey or football. The fact that I accept some levels of brutality doesn't mean that I don't care about what happens to these athletes after the fight or game.
We have all sort of rules governing amateur and professional sports, ranging from age restrictions to weight classes, to insurance requirements and none of them of have lead to this mysterious “socialization” that most Americans seem to be afraid of these days.
Do athletes (at all levels) make bad decisions?…yes. Can we (society) save them from themselves…in most cases no, but that shouldn’t mean that we throw them under our collective sports bus and roll on to the next stadium.
It’s completely reasonable for some sort of governing body to regulate the health and ability of fighters to continue fighting, a physical could easily include some screening for signs of mental health issues or brain damage which can cause depression and mental illness (see: Chris Beniot). So while I get it that some folks don’t care about happens to athletes when they’re not running, dunking, punching or some combination thereof...why the hate for those who do?

I look forward to an article on how Dante Stallworth got 30 days for DUI manslaughter for killing Mario Reyes, a working man walking to his bus stop, with his Bentley.

It seems like an excellent intersection of politics, pain and the promise of sports.

Oh wait, the bad guy is a coddled multimillionaire athlete! Never mind.

MIAMI -- Mario Reyes was a family man, a loving husband and father. He came to South Florida from Cuba as a teenager and became an overnight crane operator in Miami.

Still, his family said he couldn't afford a car and was forced to take the bus to work. Saturday, police said he was killed when a Bentley driven by Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth collided with him on a causeway linking Miami and Miami Beach.

Reyes was headed to the bus stop.

"He spent all his free time with his family," Reyes' brother-in-law, Francisco Fajardo, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "He was on his way home."

JJ Dynamite - facts matter. The overwhelming, overwhelming majority of boxers aren't "millionaires." They toil at the margins of the sport in beat up gyms. They are the ones who would benefit from union protections and health benefits. It doesn't seem that controversial. Athletes who are part of collective bargaining processes have better health care and benefits. It aint rocket science. Boxers, given the physical demands of their sport, deserve the same.

"American Medical Association has called for a ban on boxing, refusing to even license ringside "physicians" on ethical grounds... The truth is that mostly upper middle class white boxing "fans" like those who post on here don't care about people who box..."

Wrong again. There are already licensed physicians at every US boxing card, which is a legal requirement.

The majority of US boxing fans are working class hispanics, not white middle class - again, proving your ignorance.

Fact is contact sports sometimes result in injury and the only solution is medical benefits for boxers. If they ban boxing they must also ban auto racing and football, which have more concussions and deaths per year in this country than boxing.

"If you truly "cared" about boxers-- a rather laughable proposition-- you'd ban the "sport" or at least require head gear."

I am a former boxer so do not presume to know anything. As an outsider to the sport you are laughable. And head gear was proven years ago to have no impact on head shots. Head gear is only leather and foam that has a minimal cushion effect and reduces visibility, sometimes resulting in boxers getting hit more than they would without head gear. I know this because it happened in the gym all the time.

You on the other hand know nothing about boxing but like most mental midgets you do have emphatic opinions. Congratulations, perhaps you'll get a blue ribbon to wrap around your dunce cap.

Doctors know more about the permanent damage of boxing than you do Truth-iness.

The AMA has long called for a ban on boxing and has refused to endorse (ok, not license, but rather damning) the so-called American Association of Professional Ringside Physicians.

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2002/07/08/hlsb0708.htm

AMA pulls no punches, reiterates boxing ban
Ringside physicians were denied endorsement for their efforts to make the sport safer.

As for all of those "working class Hispanics" that somehow justify bashing a man's head in, the truth is the large majority of boxing fans are still aging white men. Besides, who cares? It's barbaric.

Truth-iness, you may be slurring your words by now, but get your facts straight before you attack mine.

Boxing's fan and revenue base is still overwhelming middle class white men who, like you, get off on seeing men slowly destroy each other's faculties.

http://www.maxboxing.com/Kim/Kim060309.asp
Let's be honest, words and phrases like 'crossover' and 'transcend' is another way of saying that 'it plays in Peoria'- which in itself is another way of saying that white America (still the largest majority in this country) has bought into it.

De La Hoya was immensely popular not just because of the support from Mexican-Americans, but because of the backing he received from corporate America (another euphemism for you-know-what) and women.

When Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and Roberto Duran engaged in their series of fights in Las Vegas, the audiences were largely Caucasian, for the most part.

Yikes.

I count 7 posts with Alex's name on it. A little over the Alex, that is, if it is your real name. You're a typical Internet coward, hiding behind an anonymous first name. I'll bet your real name is Lucy.
I post my real name and I'm from Alberta, Canada. As the man says, Alex, "put your name on it!"

Thanks, Dave, for another splendid piece. Arturo Gatti was a tremendous fighter with a giant heart. I, like the vast majority of boxing fans, believe he was murdered. The fact that Mr. Alex is mentioned alongside 'Thunder' is preposterous.

Christopher Cain

Dave, I agree with you that the no-name Latin fighters you mentioned have gotten screwed by circumstance -- and they do need better health-related support.

But in the same article you aggregate them with Gatti and Mark (not "Marc") Leduc -- Canadians with no access issues to mental and physical healthcare -- and Forrest, who was killed in a robbery gone wrong. In other words, bringing in big names like those three seriously dilutes your argument. Especially millionaire Gatti, the biggest name of all, of whom you dedicate over 1/2 of the article. This piece was just too all-over-the-place; the unifying fact that they were boxers is pretty limited.

---

Anyhow, I do not want to monopolize this list like Alex -- who is far from a true Conservative/Libertarian if he wants to frickin' BAN a sport. What's next, Alex, MMA...hockey fights...tackle football?!? Ridiculous.

But I do want to ask Christopher Cain a question, regarding Gatti. Chris, Gatti had all the resources in the world, including your taxes, which would have paid for his medical and psychiatric help. What other protections would you advocate to prevent him from meeting his sorry end? Are you a marriage counselor or family lawyer? If not, I'm not sure if there would be room for another hanger-on, but obviously you know better. Do tell.

P.S. Who gives a shit if Alex does not use his full name. What, are you gonna track him down and give him some of your Alberta beef? Geez.

Excellent recap of the tragedy that has fallen on a bunch of great pugs recently.
Personally, I think the problem lies within the Balkanization of boxing. The myriad state commissions combined with the various Federations make safety for fighters secondary to the wishes of the tv exces, promoters, and venue owners.
Unless he's Mayweather or Pacquiao a fighter really isn't making that much money from the purse after the promoter, manager, trainers, cutman, and fees are all paid. A union could do much for getting costs down.

P.S. Women's boxing in three weight classes was added to the Olympics 2012 striking a minor blow for gender equity. Now if only Women's fights can get on television.......

Alex labours under the delusion that all boxing will stop if it is banned. Boxing will continue but without the protections that licensing offers, ie, physician at ring-side, nearby hospitals on alert etc etc. His way effectively calls for more boxers to die in the ring, and all in the name of caring about boxers. Absolutely ludicrous.

JJ - you are right that there are no connections to the various deaths in July. But you are also wrong. It's not natural for someone to die at 47 from "sunstroke." It's not rational to chase armed robbers with your own gun. These deaths are unconnected but they are bound by a sport that doesn't care for the physical and mental health of its participants.

For another compelling and provocative article - you are so right - we should not imagine that boxing is the one sport where we acquiesce to the worst impulses of sports business.

It's so refreshing to read an article on boxing that deals with the darker side of the sport for a change.

Boxing will always split opinion, but I simply cannot understand the 'they're boxers, they know what they're getting themselves into, they deserve whatever happens so who cares' mantra that so many people stand by. It just strikes me as inhumane. Why not try to help them as much as possible? Especially those who are more than happy to watch them fight.

As an aside, it is interesting to consider the effects that the Queensbury Rules had on the sport of boxing. Many ex-fighters are adamant that they do more harm than good (the late great Lenny McLean being perhaps the most famous - check out his video on this on Youtube), yet this is also rarely discussed.

Shrug couldn't be more right, banning the sport will just force it further underground and increase all of the existing problems.

I think that too much emphasis has been placed on the boxers Dave used as examples here, and not enough on the core issue; we simply do not do enough to protect the long term health of fighters. These guys are artists and atheletes, they deserve our support even after they stop being of obvious use to us (it's so easy to forget about them once they leave the ring).

Once again, great piece, thanks.

jjdynomite above asks how much difference a real boxing commission and a boxer's union could make in the health of fighters from countries such as canada with nationalized health care.

I'm a boxing fan, but one thing that I would absolutely love to see is an end to so called tune-up fights where a man is placed into the ring with the full expectation that his opponent is going to knock him out or batter him to the point that the fight is called off. Many fighters supplement the income from their day jobs as professional opponents, they earn small purses in fights they are expected to lose. Collective action could certainly help improve fairness in match-ups and in purses, and a strong commission could help stop fighters from continuing when they've taken too much damage.

my brother has been involved with boxing for at least 40 years but sadly it has become apparent more lately that he is indeed begining to suffer from aggression /change of personality whitch i and many other people who have known him attribute to his long term involvement with boxing i along with many of my friends have benifitted from mostly short term involvement with the sport its strive for fitness the comaradery and the respect it engenders within its partisipants for our fellow humans and the removal of the use of aggresion from our daily lives is highly laudable but there are no checks and balances and very little in the way of organised help to turn to when things start to go wrong

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The response to local and national disasters is noble but it's a real shame that so many citizens take advantage of the sad situations.

I mean everytime there is an earthquake, a flood, an oil spill - there's always a group of heartless people who rip off tax payers.

This is in response to reading that 4 of Oprah Winfreys "angels" got busted ripping off the system. Shame on them!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/19/crimesider/entry5251471.shtml

Hello Everybody

Discussions on the earths temperature increase - or global warming are generally too scientific to participate in - but, an earthquake shaking an entire country into disaster cannot be disregarded as another statistic. Hundreds of thousads are dead and homeless

Please offer financial or volunteer assistance to Chile & Haiti
http://www.google.com/relief/chileearthquake/

Todd Cowle Municipal Bond Credit Report synthesizes, analyzes and presents aggregate credit information and trends in the municipal bond market. The report includes municipal bond rating information from the three major rating agencies – Moody’s Investor Services, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.