Boxing
Delivered by Rob Goeckel at the University of Wisconsin.1 "I killed a man. Afterward, they told me that it wasn't my fault) and that anyway it was nothing new. It had happened before. It has happened since. And, believe me, it will happen again." 2 This quote was uttered by boxer Roger Donoghue after he fought fellow boxer George Flores in 1951. During the fight, Donoghue punched Flores so mercilessly and with such force that shortly afier the bout was over, Flores went into a coma. He never woke up again. 3 This horrif~ing scenario, the sight of one man literally beafing another man's brains out, is what boxing is all about. What's even more frightening is that many, many other fighters have suffered the same fate as George Flores. In fact, as Time magazine reported, in the last decade over seventy boxers have died from boxing-related causes. Moreover, at least 15 percent of all boxers, even if they don't die, incur irreversible brain damage. 4 Growing up, like most of you, I watched boxing, and sometimes I even enjoyed it. But as I recently watched Mike Tyson pummel Frank Bruno into submission in a heavyweight championship fight I began to wonder what possessed one man to beat another with
What awaits them is a future filled with punishment and abuse, while only a handful of fighters go on to make the millions of dollars that are so glorified by our society. I 0 Subsequent studies have shown that boxers are also far more likely to suffer from another type of brain damage called cavum septi pe/lucidi, which occurs when a boxer receives a blow to the brain and a cave or space develops between the two membranes that divide the brain. Many boxers who have this ailment suffer permanently with symptoms similar to the brain disorder Parkinson's disease. This disease develops when the brain ceases to produce sufficient amounts of dopamine, a substance that helps in the transmission of nerve impulses involved in motor control - 7 Even heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson says, "This is a hurt business. When you see guys like Trump, Kennedy, and Rockefeller come to a fight, regardless of what they may represent, they come to see someone get hurt, and my objective is to inflict as much punishment as possible."
Some common words found in the essay are:
George Flores, Kennedy Rockefeller, Jan Corsellis, Dick Enberg, Evening Post, Frank Bruno, Ironically Ali, Medical Association, Joseph Boyle, University California, medical association, george flores, sport boxing, brain damage, american medical association, american medical, else loses let's, damage participants, fate george, left individual, parkinson's disease, boxers died, let's stop madness, stop madness else, ban sport boxing,
Approximate Word count = 1418
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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