“Fighting Words” – Butts, Cuts, Concussions, Repercussions
by David P. Greisman.
Butting is more than skin deep.
When heads clash, the most visible wounds are the cuts – gashes that range in location, usually from below the eyebrow to above the hairline, and range in severity from slits that stop bleeding quickly to splits that pour crimson continuously.
The consequences that are most harmful are not always those that are most visible.
That was the case with Al Seeger, a 122-pound former world title challenger who was hospitalized with bleeding on the brain following his Oct. 23 loss to Victor Fonseca.
That was the case with Edgar Sosa, a now-former 108-pound beltholder who lost his world title and was sent to the hospital following his Nov. 21 loss to Rodel Mayol.
And that was the case with Nate Campbell, a former lightweight titlist who needed medical attention following his Aug. 1 “No contest” with Timothy Bradley.
The Seeger bout ended in the ninth round by technical knockout. The damage was done seven rounds before by a head butt.
“It’s not a great angle to see [on the broadcast], but I can hear the crack it made,” Seeger, since out of the hospital and recovering, wrote in November on the BoxingScene.com message board. “For the rest of round two and three, there is also an obvious indentation on my forehead. This was the result of my sinus cavity being smashed inwards. I think after the third round, the area started to swell, which made it appear normal again.”
But the internal injury was graphic, and literally so, for Seeger’s surgeon took a picture of the boxer’s new “titanium cranium,” as Seeger described it in posting the photo on the MaxBoxing.com message board.
One can see a surgical tool pulling down a slice in Seeger’s forehead, making an opening the shape of an upside-down triangle, more than two inches long at top, more than an inch long at the other two sides. The opening reveals enough metal that looks like part of a computer motherboard and more than a dozen screws holding said metal in place.
The Sosa bout ended in the second round by technical knockout, after Mayol trapped Sosa on the ropes with a flurry of punches, capitalizing on an opponent weakened by two trips to the canvas: one from an uppercut, one before that from a clash of heads.
The damage was done 23 seconds into the round, when Mayol ducked his head down and began to throw a right hand to Sosa’s body. Instead, his head crashed into Sosa’s face, opening a wound on Sosa’s left cheekbone and putting him down on all fours for 15 seconds.
Sosa had to have screws and two titanium plates inserted into his face – one near the orbital bone below his left eye, one near his left cheekbone and jaw.
The Campbell bout ended after the third round, originally ruled a technical knockout victory for Bradley, later changed to a “No decision” after an appeal ruling confirmed that Campbell’s fight-ending injury came from a head butt.
Bradley and Campbell’s heads collided in the second and third rounds. Fifteen seconds into the third, Bradley threw a right hand and a left hook, both to the body, when the top of his head bumped Campbell’s eyebrow, creating a jagged, diagonal gash that went from Campbell’s brow to below.
After the round ended, Campbell told his corner he couldn’t see, that he had spots in his left eye. A medical examination would later reveal he had a slight vitreous hemorrhage, bleeding within his eye. Fortunately there was no retinal damage.
When there are other fouls within a boxing match – low blows, blatantly intentional head butts – a referee will stop the action, perhaps take a point from the offending party, and give a fighter time to recover.
But when there are accidental head butts (or rabbit punches), the fight often continues without delay.
Rabbit punches at least draw warnings. A referee will merely tell boxers to watch their heads after butts, largely because a clash of styles and the nature of the sport (two fighters moving their heads while trying to punch each other and avoid getting punched) often mean collisions will happen.
The problem is that while some butts just lead to cuts that can be monitored as the fight goes on, other butts cause concussions and worse repercussions, those brain bleeds, fractures and hemorrhages that hurt Seeger, Sosa and Campbell.
The National Football League is finally taking steps to ensure that players who suffer concussions neither needlessly leave themselves in the game and take more blows nor prematurely return to their team when they should be recovering.
Boxers cannot necessarily tell the difference between being dazed and being damaged. They cannot check themselves out of a match. They do not have someone waiting on the bench to substitute in for them.
And referees cannot necessarily check on a boxer after a clash of heads and believe anything but what he can see. A fighter who is losing a bout could otherwise take advantage of the system and exaggerate their injuries so as to get out of the fight, which would either make the result a “No decision” or send it to the scorecards. This was the type of criticism that was directed, understandably but unfairly, at Campbell following the Bradley bout.
That’s if officials even see a clash of heads happen. The referee for Bradley-Campbell wrongly ruled the cut above Campbell’s left eye as coming from a punch, never mind the vitreous hemorrhage that would not have been able to be detected.
The referee for Fonseca-Seeger warned both fighters about accidental head butts on several occasions. He could not have known about Seeger’s brain bleed, but as the punches worsened the damage, he at least stopped the bout at the right time.
Football players could be asked to wear more protective helmets. Professional boxing will never move toward headgear; to do so would be contrary to the gladiatorial aspect of the sport, in which heroes are identifiable as they wage combat. And headgear, like heavier gloves, could make brain injuries more common – one-punch knockouts can look painful but actually do far less damage than repeated blows that jar the brain again and again and again.
There are no easy solutions. There are, at least, protective measures already in place: trainers who are supposed to prevent their fighters from taking too much punishment, officials and physicians who can also check on a boxer between rounds, and referees who are closest to the action and can err on the side of caution.
Those non-combatants, unlike the men wearing the trunks and gloves, can use their heads.
To be continued tomorrow………
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