Boxer Dies From Injuries Sustained in Bout

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

My Way News (http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050923/D8CPLKL83.html)
Boxer Dies From Injuries Sustained in Bout
Sep 22, 9:28 PM (ET)
By TIM DAHLBERG

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Boxer Leavander Johnson died Thursday from injuries sustained five days earlier in a lightweight title fight with Jesus Chavez.


The 35-year-old died at University Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized since being injured in the fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. A hospital spokeswoman said Johnson was pronounced dead at 4:23 p.m.

[dPrasse]

Time to ban boxxing ... it has no socially redeeeming value .....

[BEST45CAL]

I guess banning boxing will be John McCain's next reason to show his face on TV.

[The_RANDy_Corporation]

lol re McCain.

I don't get boxing, or why people pay money to see it?

[Incident_command]

Death in sports happens. Be it Nascar, football, skiing, and so on. In all incidents someone will show how it was preventable. Be it a HANS device, restrictor plates, no head on tackles, whatever. Now the cries will start to ban boxing.In this case like all the others its tragic. I watched the fight, it was a tough fight for both and I had no idea Johnson was hurt. It was the second time I've seen a fight that resulted in a death. The Other was Mancini vs Kim fight.

The % of injuries in boxing is far below that of many other sports people feel are safe. JAMA has done many studies on boxing and MMA 'mixed martial arts" fighting and has come out with surprising facts.
In boxing the odds of a fight ending in death are 0.13% in 1000 fights. In MMA fighting its slightly higher.
I still spar twice a week at my gym, my wife is accustom to me coming home with black eyes and cuts. Nothing ever serious, but I've suffered worse injuries playing softball, one of the so-called safe sports.

I've seen far more than two drivers killed in auto racing and there are no cries to ban that. And there shouldn't be.

People decide to partake or not on their own, nobody makes them do it. If we start with boxing it wont end there. And by all means keep the gov out.

[The_RANDy_Corporation]

I wonder. Here's an intentionally edgy question:

Do you have to be a sick sadist to enjoy a professional boxing match?

[Beowulf]

It's tragic, yes, but I don't feel it warrants banning the sport. My feeling is, if someone wants to make a living either getting their brains beat in or doing it to the opposition, so be it.

If they want to ban something to make the sport better, ban Don King from the sport.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Okay, sorry to get so "girlie" on y'all but this just doesn't sit well with me -- and I'm not against violence and risk in sports ... I actually LOVE football, and I'm quite fond of NASCAR.

THIS is what I don't understand:

We have outlawed animal fighting -- no more cock-fighting, dog-fighting, dog vs. bull, and even fox hunts with dogs (although I understand they still go on in some remote places). Why then, as civilized human beings, do we allow grown men and woman beat each other to a bloody pulp and call it sport?

There is a "purpose" (for lack of better term) in such sports as football and NASCAR -- to get the ball across the line and score points, to drive the car to the head of the pack and cross the finish line first. The only "purpose" in boxing is to pummel the opponent until he blacks out, falls out, or loses in "points" after being bested by rights, lefts, jabs, and hooks.

Guess my feminine side is just too ingrained to overcome. I do not like this (so-called) sport, I can't understand it, and it wouldn't bother me in the least if it was done away with. I know, I'm kicked out of the "boys' club," but hey, y'all will still need to be patched up, and NO one can resist my cooking for long, http://www.freeconservatives.com/vb/images/icons/biggrin.gif.

[UhUhNoWay]

I heard about this on the radio this morning. They were saying that the guys in the press box were begging for the fight to be ended as it was obvious to them that the kid was getting hurt pretty bad, but they kept sending him back in (his corner) and the ref allowed the fight to continue. The most surprising thing, his corner man is his dad...his own dad kept sending him back in there. So sad. I would hate to be that dad, not only to have lost his son but to have had a hand in it.
(I didn't see this fight, and am only relaying what I heard on the radio this morning)

[Wyatt_Junker]

I love combat. Fighting is the best sport in the world whether its boxing, MMA or K1. I prefer watching MMA though. More knockouts and creative joint locks. Whatever sport it is, if you have a bad ref, bad things can happen. I saw a guy arm bar another guy and break his forearm. The ref waited too long even though the guy refused to tap, he still should have stepped in knowing he was dealing with a proud fighter.

Boxing is more dangerous than all of the fight sports though because of the gloves they use. It can cause more of a cranial hemmorage between the pia and dura mater because of the 'illusion' of being on your feet. Its like slow Chinese water torture. A knockout at least stops a fight where there can be no further damage. And at least in MMA, with smaller gloves, you can have a nice clean knockout. The knockout is healthy compared to a soft, repeatitive bludgeoning. The knockout debilitates you. Game over. But in boxing, you can get internal bleeding and the adrenaline overrides the pain. You remain on your feet, fight still on, and unfortunately, after the fight, hours or days later even your head is still smarting. Not good.

In boxing, guys don't go down and the dangerous hemmorage comes later. MMA isn't like that. You get hit. You go down. Fight over. Guy wakes up. Brain heals. Not a lot of swelling compared to boxing where a guy's face literally blooms into a prize pumpkin. And plus with MMA, there are so many other ways to win a fight than striking a guy's head. In boxing, you are so limited that head strikes become the main attraction. Also, very dangerous.

[Incident_command]

[QUOTE=HomeschoolrsRUs]

THIS is what I don't understand:

We have outlawed animal fighting -- no more cock-fighting, dog-fighting, dog vs. bull, and even fox hunts with dogs (although I understand they still go on in some remote places). Why then, as civilized human beings, do we allow grown men and woman beat each other to a bloody pulp and call it sport?
QUOTE]
Because they choose to do it, animals don't. And seldom does it come down to a fighter in a bloody pulp.

Gotta be careful here, I know you love NASCAR and football as I do, but it would be just as easy to say those things about these sports.
Take football, they beat on each other far worse than in any boxing match pads ot not, have far more injuries, and some sissy could say it does nothing but teach our children violence.
In NASCAR somebody could say what sense does it make to drive a car in circles at 200mph and only make left turns.


Here is part of an AP article on Johnson

He absorbed a terrible beating from the smaller Chavez, a former junior lightweight titlist, but argued even after Referee Tony Weeks stopped the bout at 38 seconds of the 11th round. His father had asked him after the eighth and ninth rounds if he should stop the bout, but Johnson said he was "wearing him down." After the tenth round, Nevada's chief ringside physician, neurologist Margaret Goodman, examined him and allowed the bout to continue.

Goodman talked to Johnson in the ring after the fight and said he was still clear-headed then. But on the way back to his dressing room, followed by Dr. William Berliner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, his left leg began to drag.


Thats about how I remember it. I've seen far worse beatings resulting in no injuries. At the end of the fight I didn't think anything was wrong with him. Also his Pop sure didn't push his kid back out for another round. Johnson was a fighter known for his comebacks and late round KO ability. He thought he had a chance.

[Beowulf]

IC, you pretty much covered it. Those who enter the ring choose to do so of their own free will. They know the risks going in, just as do football players, NASCAR driver or whatever. All sports have a chance of some sort of injury or even death.

[UhUhNoWay]

IC I'm glad you posted part of that article, it makes more sense now. The way the guys on the radio were telling it gave me the impression that dad was sort of intimidating the guy to go back in. It makes more sense that this kid just didn't know how badly he was injured and perhaps was trying to make his dad proud...at any rate, such a tragic death. The dad is probably beside himself with grief and guilt.

[Incident_command]

Yea, I'm a huge fight fan, I watch it all the time, used to hang out in the PAL gyms and train, go to fights when I can, and this guy Johnson looked and acted fine in his corner from round 7 on. As I said its a shame.

I am against some fights. Holyfield is in negotiations to fight Joe Mesi in Italy. Here you'll have one guy with a confirmed head injury, his license revoked by Nevada Athletic Comm therefore making it impossible to fight in the US, against an over the hill fighter who just can't bring himself to stop. A disaster waiting to happen.
Wyatts right on on MMA vs boxing for injuries. As soon as a fighter in MMA goes down the ref is right there and stops the fight. No 10 count or standing 8 count its over.

[Peachdiane]

Yeah! IC said it well! Boxing isn't a favorite of mine but the participants involved are consenting adults. If they wanna beat the snot out of one another, let 'em. It's one of the most pure forms of sport and competition where it is all about men and women testing their skill and athleticism against each other.

What I don't get is people who watch football and cheer about the huge tackle or when someone on their opposing team gets hurt or crushed. Or they'll lust for the crashes in Nascar but single out big, bad boxing. When I drive by accidents, most people rubberneck and back up traffic. If boxing is so terrible, why look and stare at the people hurt in accidents?

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Well, I understand where y'all are coming from -- doesn't make it any more palatable to me, but hey, it's a free country, right? :smirky: Still, you have to admit, it's rather ironic, we stop animals from forced fighting because they know no better, and we have grown adults who SHOULD know better, but go ahead and beat each other anyway. If one were to take the view from the outside looking in, it really makes no sense as a sport, because the only goal is to beat the other guy up bad enough to keep him down and out for the win. That's not true of sports like football and NASCAR -- the injuries are incidental to the action, the goal of the game is to get the most points, cross the finish line first, not take out your opponent(s).

In anycase, I won't belabor my argument further. I cast no aspersions on anyone who enjoys this "sport," to each his/her own. I'll stick to college football -- Go 'Noles!

'Nuff said, LOL
Hms

[Incident_command]

Yea you got enough to worry about in them Noles:grin:
Enjoy the off week.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Yea you got enough to worry about in them Noles:grin:
Enjoy the off week.

Shaddup, IC, LOL. They BETTER be getting ready for the rest of the season, and working on more than just our special teams -- we can't count on them to win ALL our games for us.

Y'all got some stiff competition coming up too . . . hope them whirlwinds have learned to blow a little harder than a toot, LOL.

[ExcessiveEntropy]

What I don't get is people who watch football and cheer about the huge tackle or when someone on their opposing team gets hurt or crushed. Or they'll lust for the crashes in Nascar but single out big, bad boxing. When I drive by accidents, most people rubberneck and back up traffic. If boxing is so terrible, why look and stare at the people hurt in accidents?

It's just human nature. People have been watching each other fight (and kill) each other since the beginning of time. Its the same reason we love action movies, its why we all flocked to watch a schoolyard fight, and its why sports such as football and boxing are so popular.

[Melz]

What I don't understand is how boxing interests anyone?? Punching someone should not be considered a sport anyway, people do it all the time without an audience or sponsers and a lot of time it results in death and arrests. Why are people wanting to watch punching and whyyyyyyyyy would you pay to see it ? Seems like a stupid game to me. Sorry if that sounds mean, but punching is not a sport...it is athletic, yet that doesn't mean that punching someone is a sport. I don't get why it is interesting to see someone get punched a lot??

Is that girly (as Hms would have it said..lol)? To not want to watch people punch each other for entertainment and sport? I dont even equate it to anything per se...it just seems like a strange thing to enjoy watching...

[DeclinetoState]

The rules of boxing are basically fairly simple. You go in and try to (a) hit the other guy and (b) keep him from hitting you. Most people can understand this.

Of course, by the time biased Olympic judges in amateur boxing, or Don King in the professional ranks, get involved in the sport, it's not as simple as it looks anymore. :(

[Melz]

The rules are understandable, the premise is horrific. That anyone wants to watch some people punch each other to see who punches best. Hmm

I would rather watch golf (boring but no punching) or fun stuff which is also a sport (such as skiing, or playing a game of wiffleball), yet does not involve punching, much less require punching.

I do not have a problem with punching per se. I do think it is a dippy thing to want to watch...people punching..lol..

[DeclinetoState]

Or you can watch a Mike Tyson fight. You never know what he'll do anymore.

[Beowulf]

The rules are understandable, the premise is horrific. That anyone wants to watch some people punch each other to see who punches best. Hmm


Well, for the millions they make to get beaten to a pulp, I'd do it just once.

[MarlinsFan]

You can't compare boxing with something like animal fights, because boxing has willing combatants. There are certainly occasional deaths, but the only reason this is publicized is so clowns like McCain could continue their quest to overregulate boxing to death. The whole concept of a national boxing commission as he proposed once makes it almost impossible for small cards to occur, leaving only the big money cards that Don King and Arum put for you on HBO and Showtime, which is bad for the sport because journeyman club fighters have always been part of boxing, and they are also needed by big name promoters as the stepping stones for their prized prospects at some point.

[medved]

The most major way guys get hurt in boxing is by not having something else to do for a living after they turn 30 or 32.

Other than that, boxing is not more dangerous than pro football in my estimation. Many of the best pure athletes in the world are boxers.

The two things I used to seriously enjoy watching in the way of athletics in the 70s were Bear Bryant's football teams and Roberto Duran.

Duran's warmups used to include a Russian cossack dance with a jumprope, and I mean with the rope becoming a blur and switching the rope and keeping that up for 30 or 40 minutes. People used to watch that and wonder whether Nureyev or Baryzhnikov could do it; they might not have been coordinated or strong enough.

[DesertFox]

For all those who talk about how horrific boxing is, I've never once seen a single person who could resist going to see when someone yelled, "FIGHT!" Everybody makes a beeline for the show.

[Longhorn_Platinum]

DesertFox:
For all those who talk about how horrific boxing is, I've never once seen a single person who could resist going to see when someone yelled, "FIGHT!"

:wave: Hi! My name is Longhorn Platinum. I'm pleased to meet you.

[DeclinetoState]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was about one of our two ultra-liberal California Senators.