How dangerous in boxing? Is it one of the most dangerous sport ever?

The most dangerous sport in the UK for serious injuries and deaths is actually rugby union.

Rugby Union is an absolutely brutal sport. For the Americans, its like the NFL but without the players wearing tampons and air balloon padding.

After that Boxing is definitely second from the professional ranks onwards, where they fight more than 3 rounds and where the style is more towards inflicting pain on the opponent instead of scoring points. I could imagine though people getting hurt in some sparring sessions but only if they are professional boxers and training for a fight. For example, the evidence of some boxers who have suffered issues with brain functions is that the injuries happened in sparring and not in the actual fights. Sparring can also make existing conditions worse.

 

Pretty certain that boxing results in the most deaths of any major sport. Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Horse riding accounts for 100 deaths per year in the USA alone

Boxing accounts for 10 deaths per year

https://www.boxingnewsandviews.com/2016/03/31/boxing-is-safer-than-11721/

I also remember reading an article that in the UK more people die in rugby union than in a boxing ring per year. I also think motor sports account for more deaths than boxing, as there is an academic paper online that places this as the second most dangerous behind horse riding.

 

I’d like to see some stats to back that up.

In Britain in the last few years we have had the tragedies of Scott Westgarth,Mike Towell and Michael Nosgrove (who all passed away from injuries sustained) plus the likes of Eduard Gutnecht and Nick Blackwell who suffered life altering brain damage.Then there has been the sad cases of a couple of amateur competitors who have also died.

Bear in mind how many people play rugby every weekend at pro,amateur and junior levels and I’m guessing boxing is more dangerous when you are considering potential death or brain injury.

 

Yeah I did some google searching and it appears the top result from every source is: Basejumping. Then swimming. Like horse riding and bull fighting, not exactly sports but activities.

 

It's morally indefensible really isn't it? Strong case for banning boxing. ....hard to deny that. ..

 

Strong case to ban window cleaners for skyscrapers, too.

 

I think MMA is more dangerous than boxing. If we're talking about combat sports.

 

hitting the head with the aim to render unconscious. Its not rocket science.

Should vs Want.
Should be banned, but you want to see a fight.

 

I don't really think so. MMA has other injuries that come into play, like broken legs and **** but most of the time they're rolling around or getting chocked out or something. Boxing is non stop head trauma, with bigger gloves that prolong the damage. At least in MMA if you get clipped, it's over quickly.

For the topic, I'd say boxing is probably one of the most dangerous sport if not THE. You have to take into account that boxing is a niche sport as well, so less injuries occur but on p4p level, I wouldn't be surprised if boxing came out at the top or very near to it.

 

I think banning it is silly though, we do so many things that are potentially harmful/life threatening. Should we ban everything that's dangerous? I think people should be allowed to do what they want to do. And boxers know what they're getting themselves into and still do it because they love it. How fair is it to deprive people of a hobby that they love so much, it's worth it risking their health/life over.

 

Golf is more dangerous. Srs.

 

Higher than average danger level per participant, lower than average number of deaths annually. Soccer is the most popular global sport. It's going to have the biggest body count. Also, base jumping, mountain climbing, wing suiting = much more dangerous per participant.