The bulky headgear associated with amateur boxing is gone – at least for the men, who have been fighting with bare heads since 2013 – ending a 31-year era of padding.
Check with international federation AIBA, and you’ll get a rosy picture of the results. Several major tournaments have passed with no concussions, AIBA says. The federation also has star power with a new special advisor –Julian Bailes, a neurosurgeon recently portrayed by Alec Baldwin in the film Concussion, who says concussions are nearly 50% less frequent since headgear was removed. The last two World Championships, held without headgear, have also seen fewer fighter stoppages – less than 5% of fights in 2015, compared to more than 10% with headgear in 2011.
But it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison – the 2015 tournament had a more stringent qualification process, so mismatches were rarer than in the past. Added to that, the concussion question reemerged in July 2015, when researchers Andrew McIntosh and Declan Patton used simulators to show headgear can be effective at diminishing the force of punches.
The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, drew funding from the International Olympic Committee.
But without headgear, do boxers get punched less frequently? They have better peripheral vision and can see punches coming. They’re less likely to feel invincible and more likely to work on defense, not relying on headgear that lets them absorb repeated blows. And headgear gets hot, draining fighters’ energy more quickly.
While the debate lingers on concussions, a more visceral problem has emerged – cuts. Without headgear, boxers are much more susceptible to lacerations from well-placed punches, and headbutts have become the scourge of the sport.
“There has been a sharp increase of cuts due to the style of amateur boxing – head down, bore in,” said Rodney Muhammad, a veteran ringside physician and chairman of USA Boxing’s Medical and Safety Advisory Committee.
In the long term, trading concussions for cuts is healthier. Cuts heal, with rare complications. For a professional boxer, leaving the ring with a cut isn’t a big deal. But the pros usually have months or at least several weeks until they fight again. Boxers in international tournaments such as the Olympics and Olympic qualifiers often have a day or two.
“At the Olympic trials, I got cut on the first day,” says US welterweight Brian Ceballo. “It was a pretty bad cut. If we had headgear, that would’ve never happened.” Ceballo won that bout and his next one, then faltered in his third fight in three days. Two days later, he lost a split decision and was eliminated. At least he was able to fight. Other boxers suffered cuts that ruled them out of the event.
As for cuts, AIBA is trying to address the problem by getting boxers to change their styles with an initiative called HeadsUp!
The name isn’t subtle – referees are being trained to get fighters to lift their heads, limiting the danger of clashing skulls and opening cuts. “We need to teach the correct way to box with a better stance – heads up – and that requires ongoing education of boxers and referees,” said Abdelhamid Khadri of AIBA’s medical commission when the initiative was launched.
At the grass-roots level, Muhammad sees all sorts of added logistical issues and expenses. “It’s sent a red flag to a lot of state athletic commissions about the blood exposure factor,” Muhammad said. “Now you have an 14-year-old amateur boxer who has to have an HIV test and hepatitis test.”
Then figure on finding ringside doctors who know how to suture bad cuts, as well as insurance – in the US at least – to cover visits to the emergency room. Muhammad would be happier with a limit on the number of bouts without headgear – maybe only in the semi-finals and finals of elite men’s competition.
AIBA was put on the defensive in 2014 after the Commonwealth Games, when many boxers were cut and Australian Daniel Lewis was forced out of the competition. The federation insisted the change was here to stay.
Will that stance change if a cut stops a boxer with an Olympic medal within reach? We may well find out this summer in Rio.