Negative Aspects

The negative aspects of combat sports are much more widely publicised than they positives gained from training. As with a lot of subjects shown negatively in the media, the information shown about combat sports is often nothing more than opinion pieces made by reporters and distributed as fact. This is accepted as fact by those who do not understand the safety aspects and rules that are in place to protect fighters. With that being said, the risk of getting a brain injury is high. And although every safety measure is taken to protect the fighter, some injuries are inevitable. The most well known victim of a brain injury from a career in boxing is Mohammad Ali. Although he has Parkinson’s disease, it is believed that his current state was induced from his 21 year career in professional boxing. The repeated concussions from years of fights and heavy sparring leads to damage to the pathways that allows neurons to correspond with one another. Damage to these pathways leads to a person losing coordination and speech function, and is often referred to as being ‘Punch-Drunk’ due to its apparent similarity to a person being intoxicated. The difference between this and most other bodily injuries is that you cannot recover and the symptoms worsen over time.