Intracranial injuries resulting from boxing.

A review of the available records indicates that there have been a substantial number of fatalities in primarily professional but also amateur boxers due to intracranial injuries sustained in the ring in comparison to the numbers of boxers at risk. The number of such fatalities has decreased steadily in recent years owing to different measures taken by boxing authorities to decrease the physical hazards in the ring and to improve monitoring of boxers during bouts by referees and physicians. The considerable concern about the long-term effects of repeated brain injury as the result of boxing in producing chronic encephalopathy is adequately justified by the many studies of live boxers and pathologic examinations of brains of former boxers made and recorded over the years since 1952. These indicate clearly a significant relationship between the numbers of bouts fought and the presence and severity of chronic encephalopathy.