When skull and fist collide

The daytime temperature last January 23 was relatively cool, but the action inside the Cuneta Astrodome was sizzling. Two fighters – Filipino champion Brian Viloria and Colombian challenger Carlos Tamara – were engaged in a slam-bang tussle.

Viloria dominated Tamara in the first eight rounds – Viloria's punches proved too heavy for Tamara as the latter's face swelled, resembling a tomato. But, in a sudden twist of fate, the sturdy Latino retaliated in the subsequent rounds, changing tactics in order to wear out Viloria, who was obviously exhausted after giving his opponent a beating.

The 12^th round could have spelled the difference. Viloria made his way to the ring like a man who has consumed an entire bottle of rum. He blindly threw punches to survive for at least one last round. Surprisingly, two punches hit Tamara, but the subsequent two hit nothing but air, and twice Viloria slipped, almost falling to the mat.

After that, Tamara threw at least 14 unanswered blows, all connecting with Viloria's defenseless head. Viloria buckled on the ropes, but refused to go down. Fortunately, referee Bruce McTavish called it a day, and an exultant Tamara was crowned the new International Boxing Federation light flyweight champion.

Had McTavish, one of the best referees in the business, allowed Viloria to hang on, it could have spelled doom. “There is no clock in my head when a fighter's life is on the line. You can get killed in just 10 seconds,” he said in Examiner.com.

“If he didn’t do it, it could have probably been a lot worse,” Viloria revealed in the said website. “Kudos to Bruce for stopping the fight. I could have kept fighting to my last breath because that’s how we are as fighters. It could have been wrong, until you die in the ring, but for Bruce maybe he thought it was the right time to do it and he did. He’s a good quality referee and I give him a big thumbs up because God knows if I kept going to my last breath what would have happened."

Heavy hands on fragile heads

Boxing, as entertaining as it may seem, is regarded as one of the riskiest, if not the most dangerous, among the combat sports. A competitive fighter undergoes months of training, primarily to strengthen the force of his punch, because a stronger punch means more damage to his opponent, and a possibly quicker win.

Another part of the training is conditioning. This means that his diet and hydration must be strictly monitored to enable him to be in tip-top shape. A fighter also strengthens his abdominal and chest muscle for him to absorb body blows. However, a fighter cannot strengthen the capacity of his head in absorbing powerful blows.

According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 90% of boxers sustain brain injuries. “It is not surprising that head injury is so common in boxing. It is estimated that when a boxer gets a direct blow to the head it is like being hit by a 12-pound padded, wooden mallet traveling at 20 miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour)!” reported Menshealth.com.

Menshealth.com also noted that a boxing head injury can cause skull fractures and tears on vital tissues, such as the brain and the eyes. These tears can result in hemorrhage – such was the fate of now-retired Filipino boxer Z Gorres, who suffered neurological damage last 13 November 2009 as a result of his 10-round unanimous decision victory against Colombian Luis Melendez.

Boxers are also said to be “more vulnerable to disease and deterioration in old age.”

“They may be more likely to suffer diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Boxers' brains (as a result of competition) are smaller and surface gray matter is thinner. The ventricles within the brain [are] enlarged because of the decrease in the brain's white matter,” the website added, pertaining to the brain's significant declination, which is commonly a result of years of competitive boxing, “especially in professional boxing.” That conclusion may be generally true, with boxing legend Muhammad Ali, former Filipino champion Rolando Navarette, and former champion and boxer-turned-coach Freddie Roach suffering from Parkinson's disease.

'Riskier than other combat sports'

The mixed martial arts (MMA) community agrees with such studies. “In boxing, the referee will constantly separate the boxers for them to break each other's heads,” Alvin Aguilar, founder of Philippine-based MMA league Universal Reality Combat Championships (URCC), told this writer.

Meanwhile, reigning URCC Heavyweight Champion Marcus Valda said that “boxing is riskier than combat sports” because “it always exposes the head, which is the most fragile part of the human body, to powerful strikes.”

“Boxing is unlike other combat sports like wrestling, jiujitsu, judo, and MMA, wherein the key for winning is to choke, push, or hyperextend your opponent,” added Valda in an interview.

“MMA, which fuses these disciplines, may appear more violent than boxing, but matches are shorter (20 minutes with two ten-minute rounds at most) and grappling is more commonly employed, unlike in boxing, where two fighters will punch the daylights out of each other's heads for 36 minutes at most,” he explained.

A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine affirmed this notion. “Though initially promoted as brutal, no-holds-barred contests, Mixed Martial Arts competitions in the United States have changed dramatically and now have improved regulations to minimize injury,” the study said. “Knockout rates are lower in MMA competitions than in boxing. This suggests a reduced risk of (TBI) traumatic brain injury in MMA competitions when compared to other events involving striking."

No fun at all

Boxing is definitely the most popular combat sport in the country, and it produced a long list of amateur and professional champions for the Philippines. In the case of the late Flash Elorde and seven-time champion Manny Pacquiao, Filipinos tended to unite in watching and celebrate whenever these legends fought, and celebrating whenever they won.

At the end of the day, however, boxing goes beyond the glitter, the fun, and the glory. For as long as boxers are exposed to battering leather-padded fists, the risks of permanent injury and even death remain high.

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