LETTER: Death by gloves

From Mr James Mahoney

Sir: In 1889 Aeneas Murphy, a navvy from County Mayo who for 40 years had "made a bit on the side" in Liverpool and London as a bare-knuckle fighter died of a heart attack shortly after his last contest in a St John's Wood field. Murphy, my grandmother's grandfather, was 65; he should not have been boxing. However, deaths were unheard of and brain damage uncommon in the days before fists were protected by padded gloves, because no man could land heavy punches round after round without breaking the bones of his hands.

Today's professional boxers are fitter than fighters have ever been, with the strength and stamina to mount and sustain the most aggressive attacks; but as the tragic cases of Michael Watson, Bradley Stone, Gerald McClellan, and now Jim Murray demonstrate, no amount of training can reduce the vulnerability of the human brain to repeated heavy blows.

If licenced boxing is to survive in Britain into the 21st century, and not simply go underground or move to countries where supervision may be less strict, there will need to be changes to the Queensberry and Chambers rules. Though it would inevitably lead to bloodier and shorter contests, the authorities must consider discarding the six-ounce gloves.

Yours faithfully,

James Mahoney

London, NW6

16 October