[solved]An academic read. I hope this ends up on Sticky News.

In 2005 (or 6?) I began a part-time PhD at The University of Sunderland....yes that world renowned educational establishment! The title of my intended Thesis was The Role of Boxing in the Development of Economic, Social and Cultural Capital.. I promptly quit during the first year. I know there are few students on this site, therefore, if you are interested in the psychosocial aspect of the sport then I would recommend Loic Wacquant, also, a paper by Dr John Fulton "whats your worth" (I have not read that one yet but I imagine it to be a good read having known the bloke for a short time).

That pompous stuff is not for everyone, so alternatively, so that your visit to this page wasn't a complete waste of time, I would like to recommend a brilliant video of a badger bashing up a fox, who couldn't enjoy that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfZkuMfQdHU

If an admin could put this on sticky news it would be appreciated.

Cheers

I graduated last year with a degree in Neuroscience and did my dissertation on the structural changes observed in the boxers brain viewed in brain imaging and it's comparison to late onset Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients. My copy was on my old laptop, along with copies of all the texts i'd used for reference. Needless to say the useless thing crashed and Ive lost it all.

It's a shame about your paper. I wouldn't have been adverse to reading it. You're lucky your laptop "lasted the distance".... it could have broke prior to you completing your degree

I undertook a paper in the second year of my Sport and Exercise Development Degree (I know its not a proper degree like Neuroscience!).
It was a short 1500 word Literature Review for a Sports Medicine and Injury module. I don't remember the exact in and outs. I think my angle was the contributing factors and the determination of the prevalence of acute and chronic head injury in Pro and Am boxing. Interestingly, I vaguely remember finding some counterintuitive research regarding headguards in amateur boxing, the research indicated that they were quite dangerous due to impairing the peripheral vision, thus, hooks would land with greater frequency. I also remember associations with dehydration and head injuries, along the lines of dehydrated individuals have a deficiency in the cranium's natural "fluid shock absorber" therefore the brain slams against the sharp structures at the rear of the skull. Other than that, I don't remember much. I do remember it was a pain in the A$$E trying to find decent research papers with enough conflicting evidence to give a decent critical analysis. At the end of the day boxing damages your brain, and as expected, its difficult to find a legitimate source to the contrary.

Badgers are really badass, you wanna steer well clear of them.