CTE in early boxers

You won't find any real data on it to make a real comparision, as there wasn't much awareness initially and then it took some time to be recognised for what it was, what it meant and what caused it.
First research paper covering this topic comes from 1928, by Harrison Marland - from what I gathered. It definitely suggests that within the sport, it was something that was talked about and recognised for a long time...
Even if smaller gloves were indeed making the sport safe, with old-timers it might've been outweighed by the amount of rounds, fights and also poor(if any) safety standards).

Here's the beginning of Marland's article:
"For some time fight fans and promoters have recognized a peculiar condition occurring among prize fighters which, in ring parlance, they speak of as "punch drunk." Fighters in whom the early symptoms are well recognized are said by the fans to be "cuckoo," "goofy," "cutting paper dolls," or "slug nutty."

Punch drunk most often affects fighters of the slugging type, who are usually poor boxers and who take considerable head punishment, seeking only to land a knockout blow. It is also common in second rate fighters used for training purposes, who may be knocked down several times a day. Frequently it takes a fighter from one to two hours to recover from a severe blow to the head or jaw. In some cases consciousness may be lost for a considerable period of time."

 

Boxers get hit in the head a lot? It’s quite simple. MMA fighters have a lot breaking up shots to the dome and can’t swing with full force all the time. A boxer on the other hand can end up rocked with wicked shots to the jaw multiple times a night from someone not holding back- gloves are there to protect hands and maximise the ability to fire with abandon- In the old days body punching would’ve been a lot more common for that reason and perhaps reduced brain damage?

 

MMA fighters most likely don’t get hit in the head as often as boxers. They have to mix it in with other forms of fighting, and they use smaller gloves. They take fewer hits when they use smaller gloves.

Think of how many hits someone like James Toney took to the head in sparring. Or all those fighters in Philly and Mexico gym wars. MMA fighters may spend a lot of that preparation working on their ground game, and not taking so many hits to the head.

Earlier era boxing doesn’t have as much studies on CTE as modern day athletes. People would just say “oh he’s punchy” when a fighter was brain damaged.

 

I think gloves actually absorb more power and transfer it through the padding.

I've been hit way harder with boxing gloves on than I ever have been in a straight up street fight.

Also without the padding to protect your hand, your not going to throw as many punches or as hard.

Here's some food for thought though, why does everyone blindly go a long with the theory that Ali got parkinson's from boxing?

Parkinson's is a genetic/hereditary disease.

 

Practically everyone who has boxed with the emphasis on everyone has brain damage. In the lucky ones it hasn't manifested itself.

 

The simple answer is boxers are getting hit on the head by other boxers trained to throw a punch as hard as humanly possible, repeatedly. That will cause brain damage and the higher the weight class the more likely this will be the case.

As far as the MMA vs boxing argument goes, the type of glove you wear makes little difference when it comes to brain damage. MMA fighters suffer less brain damage sheerly because they target the body, not the head. Most boxers will only target the head and on top of that in boxing they throw way more hits at a more rapid pace. Then factor into account the actual rules such as how boxing matches go on for a much longer period of time than MMA fights with referees that are less stringent about ending matches whenever someone is hurt.

 

I would have imaged that still taking repeated blows to the head, longer rounds, and with less strict stoppages that it would have been even worse. But I am no expert.

 

Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez have had brain scans showing no damage.

 

Ali had Parkinsons syndrome it can be acquired through physical trauma.

 

His brother has Parkinson's too so maybe there's a genetic component.

 

His brother was also a boxer although he had less fights...

 

One thing i havent seen mentioned: MMA fights are often short compared to boxing fights, 3 five-minute rounds which equals fifteen minutes of fighting versus 10 to 12 three-minute rounds of fighting (at top levels) which equals 30 to 36 minutes of fighting per fight.

 

Most of the damage a boxer sustains is from sparring because he or she does so much of it.

 

I agree about that. One of my best friend s in boxing, Clara Benitez, mother of Wilfred Benitez, campaigned for the banning of sparring sessions because she blamed her son's condition on the sparring.