In 2011, Dr. Charles Bernick of the Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center began the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study. Dr. Bernick, who is based in Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world, has enrolled scores of professional boxers and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters for a study that he hopes will be completed in four years.

In addition to examining the cumulative effects of “repetitive concussive and subconcussive injuries to the brain,” Dr. Bernick and his associates are working to detect the earliest signs of brain injury and to determine why some boxers seem more likely to develop neurological disorders than others. What determines who is most vulnerable? Genes? Physical attributes? Perhaps the age at which one start’s exchanging blows?

Dr. Bernick is adamant that he is not trying to put boxing on the canvas but instead wants to protect fighters by letting them know when they might be entering the neurological danger zone and intervening, “by perhaps convincing them to take a pause from the sport” and in more dire cases to retire. He said he also hopes that medications might one day be developed to help protect athletes from the effects of taking punches.

A well known Las Vegas trainer, Pat Barry, has been encouraging his charges to sign up for the study. In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he noted, “I think for young fighters, it can be a good thing. You start with a baseline and follow their progress throughout their career. You can get an accurate measurement of how their brain has been impacted.” However, Barry cautioned, “I can see where an older fighter might not want to participate. They might be afraid they’ll find something [that will] force them to quit boxing.”

Of course, the Professional Boxers Brain Health Study came too late for “The Greatest.” Ferdie Pacheco, Ali’s doctor of many years, wrote, “After the ruthless destruction of the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ ” — Ali’s epic third fight with Joe Frazier, in 1975 — “I began to see obvious signs of deterioration in Ali’s physical condition. His kidneys were beginning to fall apart. …Then I saw a marked diminution of his reflexes in the gym. No one in his camp…wanted to acknowledge the change.” Pacheco warned Ali that it was time to put his boxing career to bed, and, to the doctor’s credit, he soon thereafter walked out of the warmth of the Ali circle rather than participate in what he was sure would be the champ’s demise.

It is hard to say, but perhaps if Ali could have been shown some of the objective evidence of the havoc going on behind his eyes, he might have been convinced to put his gloves on a nail. But then again, maybe not. Even toward the final bell, there was still so much money to be made, and most great artists would rather die than give up their canvas.

Gordon Marino is a philosophy professor at St. Olaf College in Minnesota and also a boxing writer and trainer.