Amateur Boxing doctor raises safety fears over rule changes

Barryboy · Joined: 17 Oct 2005 Posts: 3542 Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Boxing doctor raises safety fears over rule changes

23 October 2008
By BRIAN DONALD

THE Chief Medical officer of Amateur Boxing Scotland has revealed deep reservations over rule changes set to be introduced in the new year.

From January 1, all two-minute rounds for senior boxers (aged 17 and over) across the globe will be raised to three minutes. Junior boxers, meanwhile, will still box two-minute rounds as before.

Doctor Brian Tansey, who is the Scottish delegate to world amateur boxing ruling body AIBA's European medical commission, has admitted his concern over the changes.

He said: "My daughter is a leading Scottish lawyer and I discussed the legal implications of this new move under our Health and Safety at Work Act and she told me that the compulsory three-minute rounds ruling could create possible legal problems under the Act's provisions that mean even the organiser of an amateur boxing show has a legal 'Duty in Care' towards boxers on a boxing bill.

"This could mean that if a senior boxer was seriously injured during a ring bout his relatives might be able to argue not only was the increase to three-minute rounds a contributory factor towards the injury but it was also a breach of the Act's duty of care provisions.

"So I'm advising my colleagues at Amateur Boxing Scotland, who are currently very stringent about ensuring the safety of all Scottish amateur boxers, to think carefully about this decision."

The move is part of a raft of measures coming in to force in 2009. Headguards and vests will be abolished and Doctors will no longer be permitted to halt a bout to attend to a boxer with a bleeding nose.

Dr Tansey added: "This new move to increase the minimum boxing time per round from two to three is the result of research sponsored by the AIBA which showed that during tournaments where three-minute rounds were the norm the incidence of knockouts and stoppages of boxers was five per tournament on average, but this dropped to only one knockout or stoppage victory per tournament where the rounds were of only two minutes duration.

"It is all part of an AIBA. attempt to spice up the action in amateur boxing rings worldwide."

Gareth · Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 2796 Location: Belfast

I'd be interested to see the full research on this as it has been discussed at club and board level for years. It used to be 3's then went to 2's but then it was 4 x 2 then 3 x 2 then 3 x 3 everytime there was a reason given and a doctor or researcher baffeled us with BS. Who long are the rounds when the Chavs/Neds jump you ? that maybe what we should work too.

Can't win some want 3's (me) some want 2's others like head gear others want it removed, others want gloves changed, ffs cant please everyone.

If there is genuine research to show that 3min rnds will lead to increased injuries (not risk of injury, as boxing for a longer time will obviously increase the risks) then it might need to be looked at but I would have thought the AIBA would ahve looked into all this before they made the rule changes.

matt · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 789

Barryboy wrote: Boxing doctor raises safety fears over rule changes
Dr Tansey added: "This new move to increase the minimum boxing time per round from two to three is the result of research sponsored by the AIBA which showed that during tournaments where three-minute rounds were the norm the incidence of knockouts and stoppages of boxers was five per tournament on average, but this dropped to only one knockout or stoppage victory per tournament where the rounds were of only two minutes duration.

"It is all part of an AIBA. attempt to spice up the action in amateur boxing rings worldwide."

For some reason I thought they might have wanted to decrease the number of KOs.

matt · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 789

Gareth wrote: If there is genuine research to show that 3min rnds will lead to increased injuries (not risk of injury, as boxing for a longer time will obviously increase the risks) then it might need to be looked at but I would have thought the AIBA would ahve looked into all this before they made the rule changes.

What do you mean by risk of injury? The probability of an injury occuring?

Gareth · Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 2796 Location: Belfast

The probability of an injury will ALWAYS increase if they are boxing for longer each round. They ned to provide conclusive research and it needs to be independant as well.

matt · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 789

Gareth wrote: The probability of an injury will ALWAYS increase if they are boxing for longer each round. They ned to provide conclusive research and it needs to be independant as well.

Oh yeah, obviously, I was just trying to clarify what you meant. :wink: The problem with research in this area is that it is almost certainly not under controlled conditions (not to the degree that medical research needs to be for sufficiently accurate probability analysis). All we have to go on is non-controlled empirical evidence which can be loaded with confounding factors that give a rather large skew on the data.

The only conclusion that we can safely draw is that getting punched more in the head is proportional to size of the detrimental effect on health! :lol: No shit...!

TheBigTodd · Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 700 Location: Ballymena, N.I

Does anyone else think that this could be part of the big plan to combat MMA?

If you get more KO's at ama then the casual fan will be more intrested.

I do think that 3 mins are better than 2's. It sorts out the wheat from the chaff in my opinion.

I got so fed up in the Olympics watching boxers build up a lead over the first 3 then run away for the entire last round. They wont get away with that with 3 min rounds.

REEVE · Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 2039 Location: Gateshead

i boxed 3 x 3s for the first time ever in a real fight on thursday - if your fit at the level we were it wouldnt be bad

but i can see how you could get injured cos its seems to go on forever.

TheBigTodd · Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 700 Location: Ballymena, N.I

REEVE wrote: i boxed 3 x 3s for the first time ever in a real fight on thursday - if your fit at the level we were it wouldnt be bad

but i can see how you could get injured cos its seems to go on forever.

How did you get on?

REEVE · Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 2039 Location: Gateshead

TheBigTodd wrote: REEVE wrote: i boxed 3 x 3s for the first time ever in a real fight on thursday - if your fit at the level we were it wouldnt be bad

but i can see how you could get injured cos its seems to go on forever.

How did you get on?

tbh i was thinking it was going to be a lot harder than it was mate (i got beat 29-8 on pts) but the lad is so much more experienced.

but i think the fear of actually doing the 3 rounds was harder than actually doing them - if you know what i mean?

TheBigTodd · Joined: 05 Oct 2006 Posts: 700 Location: Ballymena, N.I

REEVE wrote: TheBigTodd wrote: REEVE wrote: i boxed 3 x 3s for the first time ever in a real fight on thursday - if your fit at the level we were it wouldnt be bad

but i can see how you could get injured cos its seems to go on forever.

How did you get on?

tbh i was thinking it was going to be a lot harder than it was mate (i got beat 29-8 on pts) but the lad is so much more experienced.

but i think the fear of actually doing the 3 rounds was harder than actually doing them - if you know what i mean?

At least you have done it now and the next time you come up against 3x3's you wont have that in your head and you know you can last the distance.