Protect fighters from themselves

Margaret Goodman

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Patrick Coolican poignantly and accurately covered many of the issues facing the journeyman fighter in his Sept. 6 story, “The Life of a Fighter.”

As a former ring physician and someone who worked with the Nevada State Athletic Commission for more than 13 years, I have been privy to numerous instances where a fighter needed to retire. Sadly, commissions, promoters, trainers, and family often become enablers for a fighter who needs to “hang them up.”

In some cases the commission used its authority to deny or suspend a license when neither the fighter nor the people around him were strong enough to make the right decision. But all too often, unfit fighters are not only allowed to compete, but also given the green light to go ahead and spar (where most of the potential brain damage occurs).

Telling an athlete he can no longer pursue his dream in many ways is the most important job an athletic commission has. It certainly lacks glamour and is often fraught with anger from many — the athlete, his family, the promoters who are commonly accompanied by a group of attorneys using threats of litigation. But that doesn’t mean the job should be ignored.

Willie Chapman may never get another license to box, but not necessarily because he will be denied by this commission. It might be because he can’t afford the costly medical testing. Who has money to hire physicians and lawyers should not be the deciding factor.

A boxing license is like a driver’s license. One has to demonstrate he deserves it — it is not a right, but a privilege. But in my experience, the bar a fighter has to jump over is the wrong bar.

If Chapman were to fail the required medical tests, it just shows the commission was too late, and if someone like Chapman passes them, they were the wrong studies.

Currently, there is no group of “medical” tests that can show a fighter is unfit. Yes, medical tests are important, but a fighter who has stayed too long in the ring or cage demonstrates a decline in skill. That is difficult to prove, but it is not a medical diagnosis nor should it be determined solely by medical personnel.

Since leaving the commission, I continue to write for boxing and MMA magazines and Web sites. I have thought long and hard about a solution to this problem.

I am not a huge proponent of advisory panels, but in this instance I believe the Nevada State Athletic Commission should put together a voluntary panel of perhaps five to six members who review each case.

The members could include a retired trainer and fighter, a retired referee or ring physician, a university-based expert in neurobehavior (a specialty that diagnoses cognitive decline), and a speech pathologist (to analyze clarity of speech which is lost following repeated blows to the head).

The panel would review a fighter’s career (losses/knockouts), and look at the films of the fighter’s fights as well as analyzing his reflexes and speech patterns. The commission could have a list of 20 to 30 potential panel members. The fighter and his advisers could eliminate individuals whom they believe might have a conflict of interest (that is, someone who has trained the fighter or worked his bouts).

The status quo is inadequate and too many boxers and MMA athletes are endangering themselves unnecessarily because of insufficient evaluations to determine fitness to compete and weakness on the part of athletic commissions. It doesn’t take thousands of dollars out of a fighter’s empty pocket to do the right thing. All it takes is a conscience.

Margaret Goodman, a neurologist, was chairwoman of a medical advisory board for the Nevada State Athletic Commission.