Boxing side effects

The boxers know its a calculated risk; just as football players, and some other sports, do the same.

In most cases they do it because its the only way they see to raise themselves economically from their past - and they don't make decent money unless they are good.

Serious injuries among the good ones are rare.

Modern boxing equipment and competition rules has come a long way to protect the boxers as well.

If you were getting paid as much as some of them make just to work a few days a year, you wouldn't care.

It's not just boxers who suffer from the cumulative effects of minor brain trauma. There's strong evidencing linking heading in football (soccer in the USA) with something called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. CTE isn't yet fully understood, and it seems that there are some people who are more liable to suffer from it than others due to genetics, diet or other factors. But it should be obvious to anyone with any sense that the brain being jerked around inside the skull by impacts to the outside of the head can't be a good thing. Woodpeckers have evolved to be able to deal with that; humans have not.

As for why people choose to get involved with sports that are either obviously hazardous from the start or which it's clear will take a huge toll on their health in the longer run, I'm sure that's mainly down to a search for wealth and fame combined with the all too prevalent delusion amongst the young that while other people may encounter problems, nothing too awful can ever happen to them. A lot of young people are also incapable of being too concerned about what sort of shape their body and their brain will be in when they reach the unimaginably ancient age of 50, never mind points beyond that.

I’ve always thought the same, repeatedly getting head trauma definitely sounds scary. Especially since it can cause changes in personality and even lead to increased violent tendencies outside of sports. I respect these people but I also think they’re crazy.

Never thought of it that way, assumed it was relatively safe till now. Makes me think I definitely would never choose work as a professional boxer regardless how skilled I was and regardless how much I get paid. Not worth risking that level of disability for life and have to live with it several years (unless the risk is very low, like its technically there if you're driving)

You forgot to mention Mickey Rourke's face.