Boxing needs to change!

Seriously.

We all know it's a dangerous sports. You'll always have those risks. As soon as two boxers entering the ring there is a chance that one guy isn't leaving the ring on his own.

You have 3 judges to score a fight. You have a doctor to check cuts and injuries BUT WHY IN GODS NAME there are no people who are judging if the fight SHOULD go on?

Both Dadashev and Day were walked down by their opponents step by step till those fights ended late via knockout and corner stoppage. It's always tough and hard for a corner (a coach) to stop the fight via Retirement. I think there is a great chance you will lose the relationship to your fighter or the fighter in general if you're pulling him without his confirmation. So i can understand why corners are rarely pulling their fighters, especially if those guys are still fighting back and looking to compete. BUT...i don't think a corner can judge this neutrally. A corner wants to see his guy winning. A trainer wants to see the guy knocking the other guy out even if he's behind and taking punishment. There are only few coaches with a developed sense for pulling a guy after receiving some bad punishment for a couple of rounds.

I think boxing has to change dramatically.

- 4 "judges" who watching the fight closely ringside with only ONE duty: Discussing after every round if the fight should go on or not. They have 3 minutes to watch+1 minute break to decide if this has to go on or not. And if there is a sign that one guy is beaten down (even if the fight was competitive before) they should stop the fight at some point.

- Who are those "judges"? My first thought is: 2 doctors, 1 coach and 1 fighter. Yeah, it sounds weird but this is a very complex situation and you need to take all views into consideration. 2 Doctors because you always need two opinions from an expert. 1 fighter because he knows the situation. 1 coach because he has a different view than the fighter. Maybe even add one boxing journalist or boxing fan from local boxing fan sites.

- We need education. For trainers, fighters. Signs of brain damage. I'm far away from being an expert but even myself could see that Day was struggling in there and beaten down in the second half. He was just stumbling backwards eating punches by Conwell who wasn't even loading on every shot. He just landed soooo much punches clean because Day was barely able to keep his hands up. There are signs of fighters being damaged or tired.

- We need OPEN SCORING after every round. I know it destroys some excitement, but cmon...if you know a guy is down 0-6 rounds after 6 in a 10 rounder and he starts to look gassed + damaged, you can take him out without getting in any discussion you might have ruined his fight. He was losing and he would have lost the fight. If Day corner knew he was down after 6 like 5-1 + 1 KD they might have pulled him. Who knows. Same for Dadashev. Buddy might have pulled him earlier. Who ****ing knows. Open scores are a factor to overcome the barrier to stop a fight. Either for the ref or for the corner. And even for an independent expert group who's watching closely from ringside. I know this would lead to more KO losses on guys records and it's a very tough line to find out at which point a fight should get stopped but still...

- Disqualification for rabbit punching. Yes. If you hit your opponent to the back of the head in the clinch or while someone is holding: Goodbye. YOU LOST! I'm not talking about touching or hitting the back of the head after the opponent is ducking a punch or going low. The difference is clear. No problem.

- Change the weigh in system. Dehydration is a big problem if it comes to brain injuries. With the weigh in system right now you have about 30-34 hrs between weigh in and the fight. Those number should be increased to at least 54-60 hrs so a weigh in takes place TWO Days before at morning. It's a big factor imo. Promoters should be responsible to make a weight monitoring for guys fighting on their cards. Of course it's impossible to monitor weight cut for guys who are stepping in on short notice but you can easily solve the problem: Only take guys for short notice fights if their weight is already down to a certain % of the required weight.

I KNOW...boxing will lose some of his "excitement" because of more people overwatching the scene but imo it's pretty necessary. We always have the same **** after a fighter dies. Same phrases. Then back to daily life. There should be a change. You won't be able to reduce risks to 0%, it's impossible - obviously - but you can reduce risks further and further, step by step. I know some of those toughts might be BULL**** or just fiction but man...i'm done with boxing right now, really. Not necessarily because a young guy is dead and the reason is he fought a boxing fight. More like....why nobody is at least TRYING to do something? Even if you can't reduce the risks to 0, you can try to reduce them to a lower level than it is right now. Everyone is writing RIP, the big promoters and all those guys but nobody is really trying to change someting. That pisses me off.

Something HAS to be done.

Discuss, or give me a "**** you, clown, you're ******ed"...whatever, i don't care. I'm ****ing disgusted.

 

I know it is. I'm doing the sports for almost 20 years and i'm not even 30. Ofc on a low leve, no pro, only short amateur career on regional level, but still training week for week with decent level guys see those guys getting damaged. Of course it's damaging your body and your brain, even if you box on amateur level or low pro level with guys who are not any good or not hitting hard.. And still, there are some things you can do to reduce risks. Not necessarily reduce risks of guys getting damaged throughout a career but reduce risks of a guy beaten to death in the ring!

 

There are quits and quits though. In the end it's still boxing and you don't have to enter the ring. Go delivering pizza if you really don't want to be there. I'm talking about a round by round beatdown with guys just wobbling and stumbling torwards the ring with no chance of winning the fight in the mid & late rounds. Dadashev was losing. Day was losing. Both guys were looking horribly damaged in the later rounds of their fights.

 

Nobody wants to destroy the fights or dictating how to fight. I'm talking about a moment in the fight where you should stop a fight and not start about thinking if you stop the fight. If a guy in the amateurs is getting hit clean by 5-6 punches without responding or defending...he gets a count. Why not adapting this to the pro game? At least in some way. There are many possible things you can start with. You just have to want it. And nobody wants it. So all those promoters and other guys shouldn't act as they do. Just STFU. I know they don't want to see bodies but still...they're not trying 1% to work against it.

 

Yes...nobody wants to stop a competitive fight where both guys fighting toe to toe and looking great while doing it. I'm talking about fights where a guy is beaten up, gassing badly, stumbling towards the ring. Imagine the Usyk fight on Saturday would have went 12 rounds. Or Sims fight. Of course Conwell vs. Day was a competitive fight on paper and it was a competitive fight early on. I wouldn't have stopped the fight after the first KD but in the last 3-4 rounds Day was beaten up OR at least took a lot of clean punches to the head and nobody was really looking into that to stop it.

Nobody wants to stop a fight like Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder, even after the 2nd KD. Fury get up and fougth back, moved really well. Of course it was brutal KD, his face looked busted after the fight, but his reaction in the fight was completly different. He wasn't wobbling, he was fighting back, not only moving backwards. Dadashev for example looked unreal between those rounds in the corner. He looked like only his body is there in the ring. Day was wobbling a lot, shaky legs. There are some signs. I'm no doctor, i only can talk about my experience.