Editorial: A report that lacks punch

Sunday, July 23, 2006 | 7:42 a.m.

Professional boxing has never had the finest of reputations, and its public image dropped even more last year after bouts in Las Vegas resulted in two fighters dying and two others suffering career-ending brain injuries.

In response, the Nevada State Athletic Commission last fall created a five-member panel to recommend ways to improve the sport's safety record. Known as the Advisory Committee on Boxer Health and Safety, the panel was headed by Sig Rogich, a former athletic commissioner, but best known as one of the state's most influential political advisers.

None of the committee members were neurosurgeons, an unfortunate omission in light of the committee's tepid recommendations included in a report adopted this month by the athletic commission.

Included in the committee's recommendations were mandatory CT scans after fights, more ringside doctors, penalties for rapid weight loss before fights, additional state funding for random drug testing and a study to determine if boxing gloves could be redesigned to provide more cushioning.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Steve Kanigher interviewed several boxing insiders for a story that ran in Thursday's paper. He found they were deeply disappointed that the advisory committee ignored the most serious issues bearing on safety in the ring.

We are deeply disappointed, too.

Boxing survives as a sport by building up fighters' reputations and reaping the publicity and money that comes when two with impressive records meet for a showdown.

As those who understand the sport know, many fighters' impressive records are helped along by way of mismatches. Paired against fighters of far lesser talent, their records bloom, and soon there is a big fight, a big payday.

A recent mismatch occurred this month in Las Vegas, when a local heavyweight with 19 consecutive victories was paired against a boxer who had fought only infrequently and unimpressively in recent years, and who came into the ring weighing 261 pounds, 32 pounds more than he had weighed for any previous fight.

Such mismatches place the more sluggish fighter in a position to sustain severe injuries.

The committee's report made no mention of mismatches, when many familiar with the sport say they should be outlawed. Nor did the committee address replacements for fighters scratched from the program at the last minute. This is a major health problem, as the fitness of last-minute replacements cannot be guaranteed.

Many boxing insiders had hoped the committee would recommend pre-fight magnetic image resonance scans of boxers' brains, to determine if preparatory sparring had caused any swelling or bleeding. But this was not recommended.

In Nevada, most fighters can go up to five years between MRIs. The committee did not recommend mandating more frequent scans. One doctor has suggested that all beginning fighters undergo a scan that would be frequently compared with updated scans as their careers progress. That was not recommended, either.

Las Vegas boxing matches regularly feature Mexican fighters, whose medical and personal records are often phony. The committee was virtually silent on this issue.

The committee recommended the purchase of one portable CT scan machine for post-fight use. But what happens on nights when two or three locations sponsor fights?

The committee recommended that anyone with a boxing license - promoters, trainers, managers and fighters - report to the commission all "serious" injuries of which they have "personal knowledge." The word serious is not defined. And who but a doctor could state definitively that they had personal knowledge that a serious injury had occurred? State licenses were not required for boxing gymnasiums, as many had hoped.

We believe the athletic commission should view the committee's report as preliminary. It should appoint another panel, this time including at least one neurosurgeon, to bring final, and more detailed, recommendations to the table.