Death under the Spotlight:

The Manuel Velazquez Boxing Fatality Collection

Death under the Spotlight: Analyzing the Data

By Joseph R. Svinth

Copyright EJMAS © 2000-2007. All rights reserved.

Latest update: November 2007

To provide additional information or make corrections, or to request a copy of the current database, please write jsvinth@ejmas.com .

Introduction

This Manuel Velazquez Collection discusses deaths in bare-knuckle pugilism, amateur and professional boxing, and Toughman-style boxing. The dates covered are 1732 to the present. This article analyzes the information presented in the various by-name and by-date tabulations. The tabulations are presented in a separate file.

WARNING! THE TABLES ARE VERY LARGE. WITHOUT A HIGH-SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION, IT WILL BE A SLOW DOWNLOAD, AND SIMPLY ATTEMPTING TO OPEN THE FILE MAY CAUSE OLDER COMPUTERS TO CRASH.

If this happens to you, or if you are trying to manipulate the data for some project, just send me an e-mail, and I will send you a copy of my current Excel spreadsheet.

Go to the Data

Purpose

Click for more information on Manuel Velazquez



Manuel Velazquez, who originated this collection, was against boxing. Me, I am neither for nor against boxing: Like Zen, it is. On the positive side, boxing is good exercise and it fulfills many youngsters’ dreams . The French sociologist Loíc Wacquant has done a good job of explaining the individual boxer’s perspective. [EN1] On the negative side, people get hurt while boxing, and injured people sometimes die.

Between these poles lies the business of boxing. What is the business of boxing? Bluntly, it involves selling those youngsters’ dreams to gamblers. As casino owner Donald Trump once told journalist Phil Berger, there is “a direct relation between a high roller in the gaming sense and a boxing fan. Boxing, more than any other sport, brings out the highly-competitive person.” In other words, boxing cards brought an extra $15 million a week in business to Trump’s casinos, and almost $2 million a week in profits. [EN2]

I find it sad (but hardly surprising) that businesses generating $2 million a week in profit do not offer much financial compensation to injured boxers. [EN3] However, I cannot do much about old-style capitalism in action. On the other hand, perhaps I can do something about honoring those who lost more than dreams to boxing. Therefore, I present the Velazquez Collection as a memorial to those who died. [EN4]

The Manuel Velazquez Collection, as a Physical Archive

I acquired the Manuel Velazquez Collection from Robert W. Smith during the mid-1990s. The collection, as received, consisted of clipping files and typed lists. Although Velazquez clearly had a system, by the time I acquired his cards, notes, and clippings, the clippings were filed somewhat randomly, and now that I have shuffled through them countless times, the filing system is definitely random! At the same time, however, I have added fuller bibliographic citations, and with the help of others, added additional names and details of the bouts described. In addition, I have put the data into an Excel spreadsheet, and used the spreadsheet to tabulate and summarize the data.







Changes in the Collection over Time







The number of deaths documented by the Velazquez Collection has grown over time. See Table 1 for details.







Table 1

Update Fatalities listed July 2000 938 December 2001 1,101 January 2004 1,197 May 2005 1,255 April 2006 1,326 December 2006 1,344 November 2007 1,465







The facile explanation for these increases is that boxers continue to die of ring injuries. In a literal sense, this explanation is true. Since July 2000, when Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences began publishing analysis based on the Manuel Velazquez Collection, at least 60 boxers and Toughman fighters have died. Nevertheless, the only reason that the listing has grown by a third since July 2000 is that research is ongoing, especially into the years before World War II.







Analysis of the Data

1. Geographical Considerations

1a. Countries

Ring deaths have occurred in at least sixty countries, colonies, or mandated territories. Exact numbers of countries will vary depending on how you count changes of government. Ring deaths have also occurred on ships at sea.

Table 2 shows deaths sorted by country. Table 2 does not show change over time. This is unfortunate, because understanding change over time is important for understanding the changing nature of boxing. For example, before World War I, deaths were most common in Anglophonic countries (e.g., the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA). However, since World War II, boxing deaths have become increasingly common in non-Anglophonic countries (e.g., Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, and South Africa). In other words, after World War II, boxing became a global sport.







Table 2

Country Deaths USA (including the District of Columbia and non-contiguous territories that have become states, ships at sea [n=3], and non-contiguous territories that have not become states [n=5]. 751 United Kingdom (England [n=153], Scotland [n=8], Wales [n=11], and Northern Ireland [n=3], but excluding Channel Islands [n=1]) 175 Australia (including territorial Fiji [n=1]) 76 Mexico 47 Japan 43 South Africa 35 Philippines 33 Argentina 29 France (including colonial Algeria [n=5]) 29 Indonesia 25 New Zealand 23 Canada 21 Cuba (all before 1960, which suggests an underreporting of amateur fatalities) 15 Spain 15 Germany (excluding boxers who died secondary to injuries incurred during matches organized for the entertainment of guards at Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Known survivors of such boxing matches include Salamo Arouch , Harry Haft , and Victor Perez .) 15 Italy 14 Venezuela 12 Chile 10

1b. United States

Because half of the fatalities occurred in the USA or its territories, further breakdown seems appropriate. Table 3 lists death by US state or territory. The tabulation includes deaths in professional, amateur, and Toughman-style boxing. [EN5]

Table 3 does not show change over time. This is unfortunate, because understanding change over time is useful for understanding the changing nature of American boxing. For instance, most of Pennsylvania’s fatalities occurred before 1960, whereas most of Nevada’s fatalities occurred after 1975. Similarly, there were not many amateur fatalities in the USA until the introduction of Golden Gloves and similar amateur competitions during the 1920s.

Table 3 does not indicate who was involved. Answers to this question vary. For example:

Two of Alabama’s six fatalities involved Toughman-style boxers; the rest involved amateur boxers.

Four of Nevada’s 13 fatalities occurred during casino-sponsored fights advertised as world championship matches. [EN6]

Two of South Carolina’s five fatalities are associated with training at the Marine Corps recruit depot at Parris Island. Yet, there are no fatalities associated with similar recruit training programs at the Marine Corps recruit depot in San Diego, California.

Table 3 also does not show how journalists tended to report the deaths. There are changes, here, too. But, as a rule, non-televised deaths of male professional boxers in remote venues draw little attention from professional journalists. Neither do the deaths of male amateur boxers. [EN7] On the other hand, televised deaths and deaths of female boxers often attract intense media scrutiny.

Something that Table 3 does show is that until the 1960s, US boxing fatalities were most common in areas that supported the Union during the Civil War. This probably has to do with post-Civil War emigration patterns -- then as now, many US boxers were people of color or the children of recent immigrants. Since the 1960s, however, US boxing fatalities have started moving south and west, same as the American population itself.

Table 3

State Deaths New York 93 California 81 Pennsylvania 68 Ohio 47 Illinois 32 Massachusetts 31 New Jersey 31 Indiana 23 Texas 22 Colorado 20 Michigan 20 Louisiana 16 Washington 16 Missouri 15 Wisconsin 15 Florida 13 Nevada 13 Montana 12 Connecticut 11 Maine 10 Georgia 9 Maryland 9 Utah 9 Arizona 8 Iowa 8 Kentucky 8 Rhode Island 8 West Virginia 8 Other: US military stationed overseas, ship at sea, etc. 8 Minnesota 7 Oregon 7 Tennessee 7 Alabama 6 Hawaii 6 Nebraska 6 New Mexico 6 Kansas 5 North Dakota 5 South Carolina 5 Arkansas 4 District of Columbia 4 North Carolina 4 Idaho 3 Oklahoma 3 Virginia 3 Wyoming 2 Vermont 1 Samoa 1 Guam 1 Puerto Rico 1 Alaska 0 Delaware 0 Mississippi 0 New Hampshire 0 South Dakota 0

1c. Cities

Table 4 lists cities with ten or more boxing deaths.

When reviewing Table 4, remember that change over time can be significant. For example, 77% of Sydney’s deaths (20 of 26) occurred before 1950, whereas 83% of Tokyo’s deaths (24 of 29) occurred after 1950.







Table 4

City Deaths New York City (including Brooklyn) 60 London and immediate suburbs 51 Philadelphia 32 Tokyo 29 Sydney 26 Chicago 23 Melbourne 15 San Francisco 15 Boston 12 Buenos Aires 12 New Orleans 12 Brisbane 11

In relative terms, some smaller cities also have had many deaths. Examples include Rhondda, Wales, and Butte, Montana. Of these smaller cities, Patras, Greece deserves special mention: All three of its boxing deaths occurred after 1999 and all three involved amateurs fighting under the supposedly safer Olympic rules. Yet, despite (or perhaps, because of) Patras being the European Union’s “Capital of Culture” in 2006, one has to search the Internet hard to find any mention of these three deaths. On the other hand, four pro deaths during 2003 and 2004 in the much larger city of Jakarta, Indonesia, resulted in extensive coverage by foreign media.







2. Chronological Considerations

2a. Decades and Years

Conventional wisdom has it that the old bare-knuckle era ended on July 8, 1889, when Jake Kilrain fought John L. Sullivan in Mississippi. This is an exaggeration, but the death toll suggests that the late 1880s were indeed a watershed in the history of boxing. From the start of the English Regency in January 1811 until June 1888, there were 88 deaths. That averages to just over one death per year. Then, from July 1888 to August 1914 (e.g., from Sullivan-Kilrain to the start of World War I), there were 283 deaths. That calculates to about 10.9 deaths per year (283/26).

What happened? Undoubtedly, many earlier deaths are still not listed here. However, at the same time, the answer involves the growing popularity of sporting papers aimed at urban working men. For example, Richard Kyle Fox’s National Police Gazette began ranking boxers in 1880, and the following year, the Police Gazette coined the phrase, “Championship of the World,” to tout a fight between John L. Sullivan and Paddy Ryan. Meanwhile, organizational support for amateur boxing began to appear in the British Empire, Europe, and the United States. Examples include the Amateur Boxing Association, established in London in 1880, and the Amateur Athletic Union, established in New York in 1888. The modern Olympic movement also gained ground during the 1880s. Finally, laws prohibiting bare-knuckle prizefighting began to specifically exclude gloved bouts fought in licensed facilities.

There was another rise in deaths between the World Wars. From December 1918 to August 1939, there were at least 357 deaths. That calculates to about 16.4 deaths per year (357/21.75). What happened?

For one thing, the media circus surrounding the Dempsey-Willard fight of 1919 coincided with the start of the modern era in professional boxing. [EN8] There were boxing movies, million-dollar gates, radio broadcasts, and, in general, enormous public interest in prizefighting. In addition, modern amateur boxing dates to this period. For example, the modern Olympic boxing style dates to the late 1910s and early 1920s, while the Golden Gloves championships date to the mid-1920s. About a third of the deaths during this period involved amateur boxers. Thus, much of that increase is due to the growing popularity of amateur boxing. [EN9]

Finally, since September 1945 (e.g., from the end of World War II to the present), there have been at least 640 deaths. That calculates to about 10.4 deaths per year (640/61.25).

The upswing of deaths during the 1950s probably reflects the spread of boxing into Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and other countries where boxing had been unusual before World War II. At the same time, however, the unblinking eye of the television camera was driving ring safety hard in Europe and the United States. For politicians and viewers alike, reading about boxers dying offstage was one thing, but seeing them beaten to death live from Madison Square Garden was another. Thus, the gradual decline in deaths during the 1960s and 1970s is probably due to concurrent improvements in ring safety and ring medicine.

The apparent upswing in deaths after 1990 may represent nothing more profound than the Internet having made it easier for people like me to read out-of-town newspapers. If so, then the death tolls for previous decades should increase as more newspaper archives become available online. Alternatively, it could mean that the internationalization of boxing has simply moved the deaths overseas.

In any case, Table 5 lists how many boxers died by year and decade. Decades are listed along the top axis, while years within the decade are listed along the left axis.

Table 5



Year

1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 0 5 16 30 8 30 6 16 13 7 7 12 10 1 10 10 11 18 15 8 16 12 14 10 11 12 2 11 9 12 23 31 9 19 15 12 8 7 10 3 10 10 18 21 19 6 24 14 4 9 5 10 4 12 4 8 22 13 8 8 15 9 5 7 9 5 3 9 11 15 11 10 11 11 11 8 14 7 6 8 16 7 16 17 18 15 13 8 3 6 7 7 19 3 11 21 5 12 14 6 8 6 8 3 8 10 8 8 21 10 18 10 7 11 7 2

9 15 9 11 26 4 21 13 7 11 4 6

Total 103 94 127 191 155 116 146 113 95 67 78 68







2b. Months

The Data provide the month for over 95% of the fatal events. These tabulations are omitted because they are pretty dry, but to summarize, pro deaths are spread evenly throughout the year, while amateur deaths spike in January, February, and March. The reason for the winter spike is that January, February, and March are the months when Golden Gloves, AAU, NCAA, and equivalent amateur tournaments were (or are) held in the USA.

2c. Days

The Data provide the exact day for 1,406 fatal events since 1741 (1,406/1,465, 96%). Although some days have no listed deaths, other days are over-represented. For example, there were three fatal bouts on each of the following dates: September 4, 1922, April 3, 1955, and March 26, 1983. I believe that these variations demonstrate what mathematician Richard K. Guy calls the “ Law of Small Numbers .” That is, “There aren’t enough small numbers to meet the many demands made of them.” [EN10] Nonetheless, if someone wishes to provide an astrological explanation, I am willing to listen.

3. Fatal Round







3a. General

The Data document 1,355 deaths since 1890. Of these deaths, 125 (9.2%) occurred during training or as the result of medical misadventure, and 1,230 (90.7%) occurred as the direct result of ring injuries. Last round is shown for 918 ring deaths (918/1,105, 83%).

3b. Professional Boxers

Excluding training deaths, The Data document 923 professional boxing deaths since 1890. The round in which the fatal fight ended is listed for 744 of those deaths (744/923, 80%). Table 6 summarizes pro deaths by round.

Table 6

Round Deaths 1 45 2 62 3 54 4 82 5 49 6 95 7 46 8 71 9 44 10 92 11 13 12 35 13 10 14 10 15 13 16 9 >16 14

Although recent world championship matches usually ended during the second, fifth, or ninth round [EN11], Table 6 shows that death from ring injuries is most likely to occur during the fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth rounds. The relative scarcity of deaths after 12 rounds suggests that the reason why boxing organizations no longer schedule 15-round fights is that shorter fights better fit hour-long television broadcasting schedules.

3c. Amateur Boxers

Excluding training deaths, five pre-1910 fights that were essentially prizefights between amateurs, and one Scottish fight in 1956 that lasted five rounds, The Data document the fatal round for 179 amateur boxing fatalities since 1890 (179/29, 61%).

Table 7 does not give any indication of how many times the deceased had fought during the past couple of days. This information could be significant, as amateur boxing tournaments generally require winners to fight once per day over a three-day period. Table 7 also does not show whether various rule changes made over the years have made much impact on safety.

Table 7

Round Deaths 1 29 2 49 3 90 4 11

3d. Toughman

Original Toughman only dates to 1979. Consequently, all Original Toughman and Toughman-style deaths have happened since 1979. In addition, all Toughman-style deaths have occurred in the USA.

The Data show the fatal round for 71% (10/14) of the known deaths in Toughman-style competition, and Table 8 summarizes this data.

Table 8

Round Original Toughman Toughman-style 1 1 1 2 3 4 3 2 5

3e. Analysis

In professional boxing, Table 6 shows peaks at four, six, eight, ten, and twelve rounds. In amateur boxing, Table 7 shows a giant peak in the third round. In Toughman-style fighting, Table 8 shows a tiny peak in the third round. Taken together, the tabulations suggest that no matter how long a round, or how long the fight, the final scheduled round is the one most likely to end in tragedy.

4. Individual Boxers

4a. General

Since 1732, at least 65 pugilists and boxers have died from injuries received during matches advertised as championships of one kind or another. That is just over 4% of the total.

The outcome of the fatal fight is not always a loss for the deceased. Since 1920, at least 61 of the deceased (61/1,101, 5.4%) either won or got a draw in their last fight.

One bare-knuckle pugilist and ten professional boxers have survived two contests or exhibitions that ended fatally for the other boxer. These survivors were Ruby Bob Fitzsimmons, David Gonzales, Harry Lister, Sugar Ramos, Al Roberts, Walter Robinson, Kid Runcorn, Kid Snowball, Owen Swift, Bud Taylor, and Hector Thompson. (Pugilist Owen Swift may have survived three, but for now, only two are documented. Pugilist William “Paddy” Gill also may have survived two matches, but for now, only one is documented.)

Two bare-knuckle pugilists and four professional boxers were involved in two fatal fights, once as survivor and once as deceased. These were pugilists Simon Byrne and Richard Dodd, and professional boxers Sam Baroudi, Jack Burns, Bert McCarthy, and Gino Perez. (Pugilist William Phelps, aka Brighton Bill, also may be on this list, but for now, only his death is documented.)

Since 2000, two women have added their names to the list. One is Original Toughman fighter Stacy Young, who died during her ring debut in 2003. The other is the veteran amateur boxer Becky Zerlentes, who died in 2005. There was also a 15-year-old girl who was wearing the gloves when her 50-year-old lover died during a bout in 1925, but that was an unusual event all the way around.







4b. Age

Of the deaths since 1890:

About 1.0% (14/1,335) involved Toughman-style boxers. The Data provide ages for 14 Toughman-style boxers (100%). The youngest was 21 years of age; the oldest was 44 years of age. Average age was 28.2 years. If only Original Toughman deaths are considered, then the youngest were 23 years old and the oldest was 44, and average age was 29.77 years.

About 9% (126/1,355) occurred during training. The youngest person to due during training was aged 11 years; the oldest was aged 50 years. Average age at death was 23.5 years.

About 22% (293/1,355) involved amateur boxers. The Data provide ages for 245 amateurs (245/293 = 84%). The youngest was aged 13; the oldest was aged 41 years. Average age at death for amateur boxers was 20.5 years.

About 68% (923/1,355) involved professional boxers. The Data provide ages for 539 professionals (572/923 = 62%). The youngest professional fatality was aged 12 years; the oldest was aged 45 years. Average age at death for professional boxers was 23.1 years.

There is no significant change in age when this information is plotted by decade, so that tabulation is not included here.







4c. Weight

In January 2006, the State of California commissioned a study to investigate the relationship between rapid weight reduction and serious ring injury. [EN13] Although one wishes the California researchers well, the data suggest that death rates calculated by weight follow the same Bell curve that one would expect for male athletes grouped by weight.

For details, see Table 9, which lists amateur and professional boxing deaths by weight, using post-1920 data. Deaths during training, deaths of female boxers, and Toughman-style deaths are not included in this tabulation. The Data list 909 deaths since 1920 that meet these criteria, and weight for 673 (68%) of them. Percentage, given below, uses 673 as the divisor.

Table 9

NOTE: Tabulations move intermediate weights to the next higher class. For instance, a super featherweight is counted as a lightweight.







Classification Pounds Kilos Died % Flyweight <112 <51 54 8.0 Bantamweight 118 54 67 10.0 Featherweight 126 57 102 15.2 Lightweight 135 61 127 18.9 Welterweight 147 69 116 17 Middleweight 160 73 93 13.8 Light heavy <175 <80 50 7.4 Heavyweight >175 >80 53 7.9

5. Cause of Death

In 1996, some Japanese neurosurgeons reported that serious brain injury (specifically, acute subdural hematoma ) was the proximate cause of most Japanese ring fatalities. The Velazquez collection supports their assertion. About 80% of the deaths listed were due to head, brain, or neck injuries, about 12% were due to cardiac conditions, and about 8% were due to other causes, ranging from ruptured spleens to “over-indulgence in ice-water.”

About 75% of the fatal incidents clearly started in the ring. That is, the boxer was knocked out, and did not get up. However, 25% of the fatal incidents began after the injured boxer left the ring, and about 5% of the deceased did not show visible symptoms until a week or more after their last bout.

Surprisingly, blows often are not the official cause of ring death. Instead, the usual cause of ring death is either a fall or “nobody knows” (e.g., misadventure). For details, see Table 10. The raw numbers shown below are based on 340 deaths since 1890, about 25% of the total.







Table 10

Mechanism Number Percent Falls 101 30 Misadventure 81 24 Blows 65 19 Prior injury 39 11 Unfit 23 7 Mismatch 18 5 Weight reduction 6 2 Other 6 2







Read the newspaper accounts, and eventually the suspicion arises that the reason for some of these deaths bordered on the criminal -- some of those promoters really were gangsters , and some of the deceased had not won a contest in years. In addition, promoters sometimes hired boxers known to have pre-existing conditions such as impacted teeth, detached retinas, severe headaches, known heart problems, and/or recent concussions. Moreover, for whatever reasons, commissions often turned a blind eye toward safety. Thus, officials who tried to stop fights have been told to sit down and shut up, and others consistently failed to spot faked medical histories, birth certificates, and ring records.

Penny-pinching promoters are also potential risks. Even during the past twenty years, there have been fights without trained medical personnel or ambulances nearby, or with improperly strung ropes, unpadded turnbuckles, and similar hazards.

And of course boxing gyms are rarely models of sanitation. Before the development of sulfa and penicillin during the 1930s and 1940s, skin and eye infections posed serious health risks, and boxers sometimes died from peritonitis. More recently, anabolic steroids, amphetamines, and blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis C and HIV have created new health risks. Nonetheless, to this day, training partners have been seen sharing blood-spattered mouthpieces, gloves, and abdominal protectors.

Thus, there is much that can be done to reduce the risk of death or serious injury in the boxing ring. Nonetheless, given the limits of current medical technology, unexplained deaths will happen even in the best-run programs. For more about this, see Francis G. O’Connor, John P. Kugler, and Ralph G. Oriscello, “Sudden Death in Young Athletes: Screening for the Needle in a Haystack” , American Family Physician (June 1998).

With this background in mind, let’s examine the risks of boxing.

6. Risk per Million Participants

6a. General

One problem with calculating risk per million participants involves defining “participant.” For instance, is heavyweight boxer George Foreman, a man with a professional career record of 76 wins and 5 losses, 1 participant or 81 participants? For the moment, let’s assume that Foreman constitutes 81 participants.

6b. Bare-Knuckle Pugilism

In August 1824, an anonymous writer for the Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette (volume 6, page 179) reported that there were 859 prizefights in England between 1719 and 1824. The Data document 24 deaths in England during that period. There are two participants per match, so the death rate for eighteenth century English bare-knuckle pugilism appears to be about 14,000 deaths per million participants ([24 deaths/[859 fights x 2 participants] x 1,000,000).

6c. Professional Boxing

During 2002 and 2003, the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved about 113 bouts per month between male professional boxers, and another 2.5 bouts per month between female professional boxers. For source documentation, see http://boxing.nv.gov .

From January 1979 to May 2003, there were 293 months. This idiosyncratic period was used so that calculations would be directly comparable to Original Toughman. The Data document the deaths of five male boxers in Nevada during those 293 months. Thus, the death rate for male professional boxers in Nevada appears to be about 76 deaths per million participants (5 deaths/[293 months x {113 bouts per month x 2 fighters per bout}] x 1,000,000).

6d. Amateur Boxing

During 1982, USA Boxing sanctioned 23,528 bouts between male amateur boxers. [EN14] Divide 23,528 by 12, and the result is 1,961 bouts per month. The Data document 16 amateur boxing deaths in the USA between January 1979 and May 2003. Nine of these deaths happened during training, and seven of these deaths happened as the result of contest injuries. Thus, the death rate for male amateur boxers appears to be about 13.9 per million participants, and about 6.1 per million during contests ([16/7 deaths/[293 months x {1,961 bouts per month x 2 fighters per bout}] x 1,000,000).

6e. Original Toughman

Between January 1979 and May 2003, seven men died during Original Toughman events. During early 2003, Original Toughman’s co-creator Art Dore told Detroit journalists that he had promoted about 75,000 bouts since Toughman’s inception in 1979. [EN15] That works out to about 60 bouts per week, 52 weeks per year, for each of the preceding 24 years (75,000 bouts/52 weeks/24 years).

Subjectively, that sounds a bit high, especially for the first few years of the promotion. Nonetheless, if we accept Dore’s datum at face value, then the death rate for male participants in Original Toughman appears to be around 47 deaths per million participants (7 deaths /[75,000 matches x 2 participants] x 1,000,000).

7. Risk per Round

Despite all that buildup, calculating risk per million participants does not tell the whole story. After all, George Foreman is one man, not 81.

An alternative method involves calculating risk per round. This is hardly an original suggestion, because during the 1980s, it was the method used to determine professional boxers’ risk of detached retinas and other serious eye injuries. [EN16] However, as noted above, rounds in pro boxing are three minutes in length, whereas rounds in amateur boxing can be 1, 1.5, or 2 minutes in length. In addition, rounds in Original Toughman were originally two minutes in length, but later shortened to one minute in length. It seems unfair to say that a round of one minute entails the same risk as a round of three minutes. Therefore, to offset this disparity, let’s use the sources cited above to calculate risk per million minutes in the ring. [EN17]

8. Risk per Minute in the Ring

Art Dore says he promoted about 75,000 Original Toughman bouts between January 1979 and May 2003. This means that Original Toughman fighters spent, at most, 450,000 minutes in the ring (75,000 bouts x 2 fighters x 3 rounds x 1 minute). However, most Original Toughman fights do not go the distance. So, let’s assume that Original Toughman boxers actually spend about 300,000 minutes in the ring (75,000 bouts x 2 fighters x 2 rounds x 1 minute). With seven deaths, this calculates to about 23.3 deaths per million minutes in the ring (7 deaths/300,000 minutes x 1,000,000).

There were about 33,100 professional boxing matches in Nevada between January 1979 and May 2003 (113 matches per month x 293 months). There are two boxers in each match, and professional boxing matches in Nevada usually finish inside six rounds. [EN18] That means that Nevada boxers spent around 1,192,000 minutes in the ring (33,100 matches x 2 boxers x 6 rounds x 3 minutes). Between January 1979 and May 2003, five professional boxers died of injuries received in Nevada boxing rings. Thus, the risk in Nevada pro boxing appears to be around 41.9 deaths per million minutes (5 deaths/1,192,000 minutes x 1,000,000).

In 1982, USA Boxing sanctioned 23,528 male amateur bouts. Amateur bouts are generally scheduled for three or four rounds. The length of rounds varies. For example, the rounds fought by Open Division males are two minutes in length, whereas the rounds fought by juniors or women can be as short as one minute. In addition, due to seeding arrangements, there may be byes, and there are of course knockouts and medical stoppages. So, let’s assume that the average amateur spends about 5 minutes in the ring. Given this assumption, then each month, US male amateur boxers spend about 19,583 minutes per month in the ring (23,528 matches x 2 boxers x 5 minutes average duration/12 months). Between January 1979 and May 2003, there were 293 months. Multiplying 19,583 minutes per month times 293 months gives us a figure of 5,737,819 minutes in the ring. During those 5.7 million minutes, seven US male amateur boxers died. Thus, the risk in US male amateur boxing appears to be around 1.2 deaths per million minutes in the ring (7 deaths/5,738,000 x 1,000,000).

9. Comparison and Contrast

Let’s conclude by putting these calculations into perspective.

The goal is of course zero deaths. However, there is currently no way to prevent all deaths. Not even legislation will work -- since 1920, more than a hundred deaths have been attributed to incidents occurring during training, and in some cases, the deaths occurred without a single blow being struck. Consequently, rather than bemoan the obvious, let’s compare the risks in amateur boxing to the risks in high school football, and the risks in professional boxing to the risks in other industrial occupations.

Between 1931 and 1999, at least 616 American football players died of injuries, heat stroke, or exertion. [EN19] At least a million youths play American football each year, so the risk of death in American football is about 8.9 per million (616/69 x 1,000,000). Meanwhile, during the period January 1979 to May 2003, 16 amateur boxers died in the United States. Using the numbers posited above, that works out to a risk factor of about 13.9 per million for the boxers. Thus, risk of death in amateur boxing appears to be somewhat higher than the risk of death in American football. Nonetheless, both amateur boxers and high school football players are much less likely to die of athletic injuries than they are to die in Mom’s car on the way to or from practice. After all, death rates for some popular models of sport utility vehicle run as high as 251 per million. [EN20]

As for professional boxers, participants are not hobbyists. Instead, they are contract employees of the sports entertainment industry. At 76 deaths per million, the death rate for boxers fighting in Nevada casinos was lower than average for US manual laborers. For example, US construction workers have a death rate of 251 per million, while US farm workers have a death rate of 393 per million. [EN21] In addition, the Nevada professional boxers’ death rates were lower than average for professional athletes in general (220 per million). [EN22]

Consequently, for the working-class youth typically attracted to the profession of boxing, the risk undoubtedly seems reasonable. What these youths often fail to note, however, is that a professional boxer’s risk of suffering a life-altering non-fatal injury is enormous. For example, one recent Australian study documented 107 serious injuries during 427 bouts. Many of these injuries were to the head and hands. [EN23] Given this, it strikes me as a travesty that promoters do not routinely provide professional boxers with health care benefits. However, there is no law requiring promoters and casinos to provide health care benefits to their workers. Consequently, given the risks that the workers face, it is not surprising that their employers avoid the issue whenever possible.

For Further Reading

Svinth, Joseph R. “Boxing Injury Bibliography,” Journal of Combative Sport, 2001-2007, http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_0901.htm

Acknowledgments

In Manuel Velazquez’s day, contributors to the collection included Harold Barnes, Sydney Bluett, Bob Carson, Juan Carlos Casala, Will Cerreghin, Frank Gonzales, Hank Kaplan, Lee Kerr, Jose Laurino, Dick Leverett, Packey O’Gatty, Norman Preo, Johnny Salak, and Robert W. Smith.

Subsequent contributors have included Jack Anderson, Mike Attree, Richard Bowen, Lawrence Carroll, Jason Couch, Mark Feigenbaum, Nathan Hatton, Mark Hewitt, Charles Johnston, Michael Levy, Thomas Militello, Curtis Narimatsu, John Ochs, Jeffrey Pamungkas, Kevin Smith, Miles Templeton, Bruce Trampler, Roberto Valero, Wayne Wilson, and Bob Yalen.

Endnotes

EN1. See, for example, Wacquant’s 1994 article, “The Pugilistic Point of View: How Boxers Feel about Their Trade,” at http://sociology.berkeley.edu/public_sociology/Wacquant.pdf .

EN2. Phil Berger, Punch Lines (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993), 183-193.

EN3. In the words of a 1997 New York decision, boxers’ injuries are not covered by workers compensation due to the “willful intention of the injured employee to bring about the injury or death of himself or another.” The quote comes from http://ps1.sportsline.com/u/page/covers/others/dec97/workers122497.htm , and the case law is Estate of Gross v. Three Rivers Inn Inc., 3 N.Y.2d 238, App Div 2d 12, 667 N.Y.S.2d 71. See also the New York court battle that followed George Flores’ death in 1951; eventually, the appellate court overturned a ruling by the lower court, thereby effectively determining that the state had no responsibility for boxers’ injuries. The case law is Rosensweig v. State, 5 N.Y.2d 404, 158 N.E.2d 229, 185 N.Y.S.2d 521 (N.Y. Apr 09, 1959) (NO. 31049). California courts have ruled similarly. See, for example, Hudson v. Craft, 33 C2d 654 [S.F. 17807 Cal Sup Ct Mar. 22, 1949]. The summary is online at http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C2/33C2d654.htm .

EN4. For a more poetic essay on this topic, see Thomas Gerbasi, “For Those Who Died,” at http://www.maxboxing.com/Gerbasi/gerbasi011003.asp .

EN5. Toughman is kind of like 3-round prizefights between amateurs. For a more detailed discussion, see Greg Fagan, “Stupid Fun,” Maxim Online, June 1998, http://www.maximonline.com/stupid_fun/articles/article_584.html .

EN6. This is not as gee-whiz as it sounds. For instance, during 1998, there was a sanctioned world championship somewhere in the world every 2.1 days (174 fights/365 days). See Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, “Sports Letter,” 11:22, May 14, 1999, at http://www.aafla.org/10ap/SportsLetter/sl599_.htm .

EN7. In case you doubt this interpretation, note where boxing deaths are listed on the sports page, namely low and left. Meanwhile, the high value locations (high and right, in an English-language newspaper) are filled with advertisements. To sports editors, boxing deaths are not news, as such; instead, they are something to use as filler on slow news days.

EN8. Okay, boxing’s change was not due solely to the ballyhoo of Tex Rickard and the charisma of Jack Dempsey, or even to the introduction of boxing commissions as exemplified by New York’s Walker Law. Instead, it was symptomatic of the way that the business of boxing was changing. Before World War I, a typical boxing card featured a couple preliminaries followed by a 45-round main event. Long fights were understandably slow, and so there are photos showing fans sleeping in the stands. Then, during World War I, charity cards featuring amateur or semi-pro boxers fighting according to YMCA rules caused fans to learn to appreciate 4-round fights, if only because slow fighters were gone sooner. In addition, during the 1920s, both radio broadcasts and sports pages came into their own. This led to increased appreciation for sports and athletics of all kinds. Consequently, the 1920s became a Golden Age of American sports, a time when names such as Babe Ruth, Red Grange, and Jack Dempsey were on everyone’s lips. But, for purposes of a summary? Think Jack Dempsey and the Walker Law.

EN9. During World War I, Allied militaries promoted 4-round amateur boxing, and there was a huge international military boxing tournament in Paris in 1919. Subsequently, three and four round amateur boxing grew in popularity, especially with returned servicemen. For example, US intercollegiate boxing tournaments date to 1919, while in Europe, the Federation Internationale de Boxe Olympic dates to 1920. Newspapers, veterans’ groups, boys’ clubs, and even church groups (notably the Catholic Youth Organization) began supporting the “simon-pure” amateur boxing style, and by the mid-1920s, modern icons such as the Golden Gloves had been invented. (The Chicago Tribune invented the idea of citywide amateur boxing tournaments in 1923, but the New York Daily News invented the phrase “Golden Gloves” in 1927.)

EN10. Cited in Underwood Dudley, Numerology, or What Pythagoras Wrought (Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 1997), 81. The theme of Dudley’s book is that numbers explain relationships, but do not control events. Writes Dudley, “Since there are too few small integers to go around, coincidences will occur that can mislead.”

EN11. Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, “Sports Letter,” 11:22, May 14, 1999, http://www.aafla.org/10ap/SportsLetter/sl599_.htm .

EN12. See C. Harris, S. DiRusso, T. Sullivan, and D. L. Benzil, “Mortality Risk after Head Injury Increases at 30 Years,” Journal of American College of Surgeons, 198:5 (May 2004), 852-853; the summary is online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov .

EN13. For more about this study, see http://www.dca.ca.gov/csac/about/1223_weightstudy.htm .

EN14. Dick Kaukas, “Risk of Brain Injury Keeps Boxing Controversial,” Louisville Courier-Journal, September 8, 1997, http://www.courier-journal.com/ali/cupnews/0908safety.html .

EN15. Detroit News, “Toughman Bouts with Danger,” May 18, 2003, http://www.detnews.com/2003/specialreport/0305/18/a01-167395.htm . Although five additional men died during spin-off productions, Art Dore did not promote these productions. Therefore, these five deaths are not properly associated with Original Toughman. Still, with five listed deaths since 1979, death rates in spin-off productions are presumably high. For an article about a spin-off production in Montana, see http://editorialmatters.lee.net/articles/2003/11/19/stories/features/efea143.txt .

EN16. Vincent J. Giovinazzo, Lawrence A. Yannuzzi, John A. Sorenson, Daniel J. Delrowe, Edwin A. Cambell, “The Ocular Complications of Boxing,” Ophthalmology, 94:6 (June 1987), 587-596.

EN17. A million minutes is 694.4 days, or 1.9 years.

EN18. Although the professional fights were scheduled longer, they usually ended by the end of the sixth round. (The mean datum was 5.4 rounds.) Toughman and amateur figures were calculated using whole rounds, so to keep everything equal, the mean datum was rounded to 6.0. For what it’s worth, the average fatal professional boxing match in Nevada ended sometime during the seventh round.

EN19. David Williamson, “New Study Finds 18 Football Players Died in the 1999 Season, Eight Paralyzed,” at http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug00/mueller11081400.htm .

EN20. The Auto Channel, “IIHS Report: The Risk of Death while Driving Different Vehicles,” http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/03/15/012250.html .

EN21. This represents an improvement over preceding years. For details, see http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf .

EN22. Stephen M. Pegula, “Fatal Occupational Injuries to Athletes, 1992-2002,” US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 28, 2004, http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/sh20040719ar01p1.htm .

EN23. For the Australian study, see T. R. Zazryn, C. F. Finch, and P. McCrory, “16 Year Study of Injuries to Professional Boxers in the State of Victoria, Australia,” British Journal of Sports Medicine 37:4 (August 2003), 321-324, http://bjsm.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/37/4/321 ; see also T.R. Zazryn, P. Cameron, and P. McCrory, “A Prospective Cohort Study of Injury in Amateur and Professional Boxing,” British Journal of Sports Medicine 40 (June 2006), 670-674. For short-term medical effects of concussion, see Randolph W. Evans, “The Postconcussion Syndrome and the Sequelae of Mild Head Injury,” Neurologic Clinics 10 (1992), 815-847. For long-term socioeconomic effects of concussion, see Joseph R. Spoonster, “Defining Vocational Economic Damages in Traumatic Brain Injury Cases,” http://www.vocecon.com/pdffiles/articles/defining.pdf .





JCS Nov 2007