Holyfield in Danger

Ridiculously, Evander Holyfield is fighting for a heavyweight title this weekend against the seven-foot Russian giant Nikolai Valuev. He will lose, probably by knockout.

There are two distinct ways in which boxing can be dangerous for fighters. One is the twelve-round (or ten) beatings, where the massive accumulation of punches leads to brain damage. That's hard to combat, but some innovations --sensors in the mouth guard the monitor the velocity of head movement after a punch is taken, encouraging referees and doctors to take Compubox punch stats into account and to be much more safety-first when considering stoppages-- could do a significant amount to avoid tragedies.

The other way in which boxing is uniquely perilous is in boxers competing for too many years, and finally leaving the ring with debilitating injuries. Muhammad Ali is a good example of this, and so is 46-year-old Evander. He has been fighting professionally for almost 25 years. It was 1985 when he first won a cruiserweight title in a brutal 15-round bout against Dwight Muhammad Qawi. It's been more than 15 years since the last of his three equally brutal slugfests with Riddick Bowe. He's also been banged around by George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and John Ruiz, with nine fights total against the group. He was beaten pillar to post by skilled smaller men like Chris Bird and James Toney, as well as journeyman Larry Donald. He has suffered from heart trouble, shoulder trouble, and hepatitis. It's been almost five years since Holyfield had his boxing license suspended for the dramatic deterioration in his ability. He has slurred his words for years. I don't imagine he has much chance of enjoying a healthy retirement, and yet he still fights.

When guys get into the position where they have a big name but no skills, they turn into stepping stones with the simple role of taking a ritual beatdown every so often. Holyfield's not the only one: Antwun Echols has had nothing in the tank for years other than a recognizable name and a good chin. That combination has earned him beatings from younger fighters like Peter Quillin.

It's easy to say, He's an adult, he can do what he wants, but it doesn't really help much. If someone paid him, Holyfield would lace 'em up against Lennox Lewis Jr. in 2031. Perhaps the solution here is a federal boxing commission like John McCain has proposed. It's hard to define standards for when a guy should no longer be fighting, because for every Evander, there's a guy like Emanuel Augustus, a stepping-stone who's had countless tough fights, but who still moves and speaks pretty well.

In general, boxing needs to err much more on the side of caution, even if that means sometimes careers are ended prematurely. The loss to the sport (and its participants, of course) is infinitely greater due to Ali struggling through his golden years than it would have been were he to have his license revoked in 1978 after the Spinks loss, or even right after Manila. We can't know if having done so would have left Ali healthier today, and forcing the Ali from the sport while he was at the sport's acme would have been really tough, but even if there's no surefire way to solve this problem, boxing needs to do more.

Gancho is 31-12 on the year.