Promoters don't take boxers' health seriously

Boxers in SA do not have life insurance cover or medical aid, and it has been like that since the beginning of time.

Fighters get pummelled to appease promoters whose biggest prize is getting their contracts extended by broadcasters.

Majority of promoters pay fighters a pittance. Boxers in general don't benefit even a cent from television rights which are owned by promoters. Every time they step inside the ring, their life is at stake.

All previous boards of Boxing SA have failed boxers dismally when it comes to their health.

Boxing is indisputably violent. Although relatively few boxers suffer fatal injuries while in the ring, research reveals that 60-90% of boxers who have had many fights fall victim to chronic brain damage.

It has been said loudly that there is no other sport in which chronic brain damage is so prevalent among its athletes, and still boxing does not provide its athletes with health benefits or compensation for career-ending injuries.

Boxing SA's medical committee seems to be scared in enforcing uniform safety regulations and to prevent unqualified, unhealthy or injured boxers from entering the ring.

SowetanLIVE spoke to BSA acting CEO Mandla Ntlanganiso to find out if that subject features in the list of fundamental issues that require preferential attention by the recently appointed board towards putting fighters' health first ahead of anything else.

"There is no conclusive plan at the moment but we are engaging, for an example there were two companies that came to make presentation," said Ntlanganiso. "What is needed is just for us to push this but we need to have a serious engagement with stakeholders.

"Also remember, the income of boxers does not happen every month, so we need a company that will cover them on an annual basis." 

Head injuries are the most common type of harm suffered by boxers. This fact should not be surprising because a boxer's main mission during a fight is to score a knockout or, in other words, to short-circuit his opponent's brain.

There is one disturbing health problem associated almost exclusively with boxers: chronic brain damage. After years of being slammed repeatedly in the head by the gloved fists, many seasoned boxers begin to show the effects of the brutal punishment by displaying slurred speech, leg dragging, hand tremors, and mental confusion.

Boxing fans long ago referred to these symptoms as the "punch drunk syndrome". The proposition that the punch drunk syndrome is directly linked to the cumulative punishment boxers suffer is widely accepted.