RIO DE JANEIRO ? In 2010, the International Boxing Association (AIBA), the federation that runs Olympic boxing, created a professional series it named the World Series of Boxing.
It uses the same fighters, the same doctors, the same judges and the same referees that it uses in AIBA bouts, such as the Olympics and the world championships.
Prior to June 1, 2013, there were only two differences between the groups. Boxers in AIBA events fought three-round matches and wore headguards. Boxers in World Series of Boxing bouts fought five-round matches and didn?t wear headguards.
Retired cardiac surgeon Dr. Charles Butler, a former president of USA Boxing and the chairman of AIBA?s medical commission, used the two groups to compare the rate of concussions.
The results were astounding. Butler examined 28,802 rounds, in which headguards were worn in slightly more than 14,000 and in which they were not worn in slightly under 14,000.
The results: a 43 percent reduction in concussions in bouts in which headguards weren?t worn versus bouts in which they were.
In other words, Butler?s study showed a boxer was far more likely to sustain a concussion if he wore a headguard than if he did not.
It seems paradoxical, at best, but Butler said several other studies have produced similar results.
It is the reason that boxers in the 2016 Olympics are not wearing headguards. The headguard was removed for what AIBA refers to as its elite males on June 1, 2013.
?We know that repeated concussions lead to permanent brain damage,? Butler told Yahoo Sports. ?That?s been well-established.?
The NFL is spending tens of millions of dollars researching ways to reduce concussions, and it has researched creating helmets with all sorts of different materials to see if anything can significantly slow the rate players receive concussions.
Despite boxing?s unsavory reputation for brutality, Butler said it largely isn?t true in AIBA bouts. The International Olympic Committee did a study that he said bears that out.
?The incidence of concussion in AIBA boxing matches is extremely low,? he said. ?The IOC?s injury study showed we have a lower injury rate than basketball. [AIBA boxing?s injury rate is] lower than basketball, lower than water polo, lower than rugby, lower than all these other sports.?
There has never been a death in an AIBA boxing match since it was founded in 1946. In addition, there have only been two boxers who have sustained an inter-cranial bleed in that time, one in a 2006 bout in Morocco and another on the first day of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Butler said neither boxer needed surgery and both recovered normally.
Headguards first were put on boxers in 1984, largely in response to the televised death of Duk-Koo Kim, a professional boxer who died following a world lightweight title fight with popular Ray ?Boom Boom? Mancini that was broadcast live on network television in the U.S.
From AIBA?s formation in 1946 until the 1984 Olympics, no headguards were worn. They were then worn from 1984 until AIBA opted to remove them on June 1, 2013.
That move wasn?t met with universal praise. Dr. Robert Cantu, a neurosurgeon and noted expert on concussion, condemned the move in an interview with The New York Times.
Cantu told the paper AIBA removed the headguards to appeal to fans who are eager to see the trauma on a boxer?s face.
?The idea that headgear prevents concussions is ludicrous to begin with,? Cantu told The Times. ?It would be great if it did, but to say that taking it off will lead to fewer concussions doesn?t make sense, either.?
But Butler said other studies have supported AIBA?s research.
The 2012 International Conference on Concussion in Sport?s report was dubious about a headguard?s ability to prevent concussion.
