Acute Injuries Among Professional Boxers in New York State: A Two-Year Survey

In brief: Over a two-year period, we reviewed all acute boxing injuries among professional boxers statewide (484 the first year, 422 the second year). During the study period, the boxers fought 3,110 rounds and incurred 376 injuries (262 craniocerebral injuries, 114 other injuries), ie, they incurred 1.2 injuries per 10 rounds fought (0.8 craniocerebral, 0.4 others). Only four boxers required immediate neurological evaluation at a hospital after a fight; one of the four died as a result of bilateral subdural hematomas. Facial lacerations were the most common other type of injury (66 cases), followed by hand and eye injuries (8 cases each). The authors suggest that severe, acute neurological injuries are rare in professional boxing when strict medical supervision is present. However, they caution that their findings should not be used to draw inferences about the development of chronic neurological injuries among professional boxers.