How a boxing match turns fatal

But when they compared fatal matches to “classic,” or well-known, highly competitive matches, the classic bouts had 10 more punches landed per round on average, indicating that the number of punches isn’t the only factor involved in fatalities.

The study “objectifies some of the things we already knew,” Miele said. The results of the study were published in the February issue of Neurosurgery.

Understanding how the force of blows thrown in a match relates to the chance of fatality is the next key step in developing a method to prevent boxing fatalaties, Miele said. To test this, he plans to put tiny accelerometers in boxers’ mouthpieces to judge just how hard a boxer has been hit.

Eventually Miele wants accelerometers to be used in all boxing matches, allowing physicians to monitor them from ringside and stop a match when the force of a blow becomes too great. Amateur and Olympic boxing matches are more likely to use methods to cut matches short because they place more emphasis on safety than professional matches, which have fewer standard rules, Miele said.

Some boxing fans would not support cutting matches short, he added, believing that fighters tough enough to continue after repeated blows should be allowed to make the decision themselves.

“The diehards, the purists would not like it,” Miele said.

Some groups, like the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Neurological Association, and the Canadian and Australian Medical Associations have called for a complete ban on boxing.

“It would be healthier for everybody if it were banned,” Miele said. “But I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

Even if there were a ban, Miele argued, many fighters would still box illegally. Instead of trying to ban the sport, he said, physicians should devise ways to stop fights before they get out of hand and thereby reduce the injuries — and sometimes the deaths — that are visited upon boxers.

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