Due to a number of high-profile incidents in the ring last year, boxing finds itself once more under the microscope concerning fighters’ health and safety.
Nick Blackwell, an English fighter, was placed in an induced coma following a fight he lost in March. In November, German boxer Eduard Gutknecht, collapsed following a loss and was also put in an induced coma. Blackwell pulled through. However, Gutknecht still remains in a coma. Most tragically of all this year, Scottish fighter Mike Towell lost his life in October following a fight.
All three fighters had suffered bleeding to their brains in their respective fights.
In response to the Blackwell and Towell incidents, held within rings in the U.K., the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), according to Sky News, is now evaluating whether to introduce a handheld device that is said to have 90 percent accuracy in detecting such brain bleeds within just three minutes.
The device, the Infrascanner Model 2000, is placed against the left, right and front sides of the head and works by sending infrared light up to 3.5 cm deep from the skin. If this light detects blood, which is a sign of head trauma, then less of this light is sent back to the device, indicating a problem which will need further assessment. Designed by InfraScan, Inc., the device has undergone rigorous testing and has received a CE Mark (meaning it conforms to European Union safety standards), passed a British Standards Institute audit and was also approved by the FDA in 2013.
Importantly, it doesn’t seek to take the place of more detailed CT scans which are conducted in hospitals, but is instead a portable monitoring device that can assess quickly if there is an issue. Both the U.S. and U.K. armies have also used the Infrascanner in the battlefield for a number of years, and it costs $12,000 and $15,000 per unit.
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Such a quick diagnosis, as potentially offered by the Infrascanner is the most crucial factor in a positive or negative outcome for fighters suffering bleeding to their brains. Former world featherweight champion of the world, Barry McGuigan said that this time was called the “golden hour,” whereby an assessment on the severity of the head injury is made within 60 minutes. McGuigan knows better than most too about this, as a former opponent of his, Young Ali, died after five months in a coma following their fight in 1982.
The rapidness of the Infrascanner is also at contrast with the current medical protocol in boxing, which sees doctors checking fighters’ pupils with a bright light and asking a number of questions to determine if they seem confused or concussed. In the case of Gutknecht, after undergoing this protocol, he only began to feel unwell in the dressing room following his fight, which led to the potential loss of valuable time in detecting and dealing with his severe injury. Most tragic of all, Towell had actually requested a number of brain scans before his fight but was instead prescribed medication for migraines, according to the Daily Express.
The boxing community in the U.K. has been widely supportive of the device, too. McGuigan said the Infrascanner would be “fantastic” while Blackwell, who has since been forced to retire from the sport following his injury, said in an interview with The Sun that it would be “massive” for boxing if the current trial with the Air Ambulance Service was a success. Prominent promoter Frank Warren agreed, “Any such advance in boxer safety would be fantastic and if we can speedily ensure that every fighter who enters the ring is in full health, then so much the better.”
The device has already been used in amateur boxing with the Russian Olympic team employing the Infrascanner at the games in Rio. The BBBC is yet to introduce the Infrascanner and is instead closely monitoring a current trial with London’s Air Ambulance service before making a decision on introducing the device ringside.
Meanwhile, other combat sports have not hesitated in trusting the Infrascanner to help with fighters’ safety. Both of the biggest MMA organisations, the UFC and Bellator recently adopted the device at two of their televised shows, as reported by MMA Fury. However, much like boxing, the sport also saw a fighter lose his life this year when Joao Carvalho died of bleeding to his brain too.
If another fighter suffers a severe brain injury, or even worse, dies this year, the BBBC will again find itself under intense pressure and may be forced to act by implementing the Infrascanner. It found itself in a similar situation in 1991 when Michael Watson was permanently brain-damaged due to head injuries sustained in a fight with Chris Eubank Sr. With only one Board of Control doctor in attendance, Watson did not go into surgery until almost four hours after the fight ended. This incident forced the BBBC to introduce a raft of safety procedures that were hailed as the best in the world at the time.
Drawing on this lesson from the past may help make the Board make a speedier decision on if to use the Infrascanner to improve fighter safety.
As of October, Robert Smith, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, told The Sun that “no formal conversations” have been held with regards to using the Infrascanner.