Medicine, Sport and the Body: a Historical Perspective
Carter, Neil. "Boxing: A Medical History." Medicine, Sport and the Body: A Historical Perspective. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2012. 173–198. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 1 Oct. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781849662062.ch-008>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 1 October 2021, 10:12 UTC. Copyright © Neil Carter 2012. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 8 Boxing A Medical History Introduction In 1991 Michael Watson was stopped in the last round of his contest with Chris Eubank. He later collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he underwent lengthy brain surgery. The fi ght had been broadcast live and had earlier been the focus of much media hyperbole. As Watson’s condition deteriorated it became clear that he was to suffer from the consequences of long-term brain damage. It re-ignited the debate over the ethical nature of boxing and whether the sport should be banned. A few months afterwards a bill to ban the sport was brought before the House of Lords. Although this was defeated, consequences of the Watson-Eubank fi ght and the Benn-McClellan fi ght four years later would have important consequences for boxing. In 1999 Watson, now severely disabled, successfully sued the professional sport’s governing body, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), 1 for a breach of their duty of care, and received £1 million. Following similar criticisms of the sport during the twentieth century, boxing responded by tightening up its medical regulations.
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