Source: theguardian.com | Repost Duerson Fund 8/7/2023 –
The new head of Victoria’s professional boxing regulator has embraced criticism the sport has a “cookie-cutter” approach to concussion and lacks CTE prevention strategies, an inquest has heard.
Alan Clayton, chair of the Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board, told the inquest into former AFL footballer Shane Tuck’s death the organisation was “receptive” to the assessment of the internationally renowned neurosurgeon Dr Robert Cantu, whose report he called “a really powerful piece of work”.
Cantu told the inquiry on Wednesday night the Victorian boxing board was not doing enough to address the issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the debilitating neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma and increasingly linked to long-term exposure to contact sports.
“Your focus was very much on concussion,” Cantu said. “I did not find much about CTE and long term effects and I think that is a major concern, at least for me.”
Boxing’s concussion management strategies, including its recommended stand-down periods of 30 days, were “cookie-cutter stuff”, Cantu said.