After spending years arguing that male amateur boxers were safer fighting without headgear, Boxing Canada has changed its mind.
In a special meeting Friday, the sport’s national body unanimously approved making headgear mandatory again for male fighters in all bouts below a provincial final or the Canadian championships.
“We want to ease our elite national boxers and prospects into competition without headgear,” Boxing Canada president Pat Fiacco said in a statement. “This new rule allows us to protect our boxers from cuts leading up to the Canadian championships while preparing them to box without headgear at the national and international levels. AIBA (the international boxing association) has given this option to national federations and many are adjusting their rules accordingly.”
In 2013, the world body banned headgear for men — saying it would reduce the risk of concussion — and planned to make the change for female and youth boxers in 2018. Canada, unlike the United States, fully embraced the move, which meant most male fighters aged 19 to 40, regardless of skill or ambition, have had to fight without headgear and Fiacco has been adamant that they were safer for it.
“When you look at what we’ve seen over the past couple of years, the reduction of concussions, I don’t know who would want to argue that we should put the headgear back on and increase the concussions,” he said last year when the Star reported on serious concerns.
Last summer’s Rio Olympics marked the first time male boxers had fought without padded headgear since the 1984 Games. Many in the boxing community have said the safety of athletes is being put at risk by an international body determined to boost ratings, and blur the line between professional and amateur fighters for its own financial gain.
In defence of removing headgear the world body claimed the move had reduced concussions by more than 40 per cent. That assertion was based on video analysis of world championship bouts, which is not a scientific way to assess a brain injury, especially when symptoms can turn up after the boxer has left the ring.
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