Boxing can offer teens an alternative to street life and gangs — but it can also be dangerous. Citing the risk of everything from concussions and brain injuries to dietary issues, the American Academy of Pediatrics is renewing its call to ban boxing for kids 19 and under. The move has incited "fierce resistance" from the boxing community — advocates say the seemingly violent sport teaches discipline and a work ethic to the 18,000 U.S. children and teenagers registered to compete. But is a sport that involves "deliberate blows to the head" just too dangerous for kids' growing brains and bodies?
Yes. The damage boxing can do is clear: I love boxing, says Janelle Harris at The Stir, but there is no way my son or daughter is going "anywhere near anybody's boxing ring." The evidence can be seen in the faces and movements of retired boxers. The best of them, like Sugar Ray Leonard, may be sharp, but they are still slow. Others have fared worse and have even died from boxing-related health complications.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Pakistan's solar panel boomUnder The Radar A 'perfect storm' has created a solar 'revolution' in the south Asian country
-
Book reviews: 'America, América: A New History of the New World' and 'Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson'Feature A historian tells a new story of the Americas and the forgotten story of a pioneering preacher
-
Another messaging app used by the White House is in hot waterThe Explainer TeleMessage was seen being used by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
