[Jeff Higgins]

Boxing just needs to go away. With what we now understand regarding concussions and head injury, there is no excuse to allow it to continue. It provides the illusion of promise to too many desperate kids. And it fails to deliver for most, while often ruining the lives of those who "succeeded".

Harsh words, I know. And guess what - I grew up boxing. Fought Golden Gloves until it became obvious I was just a punching bag for the more talented kids. I was "lucky" - it became obvious I had no future about the time I entered high school. Granted, there are those among you on this forum who would argue whether any lasting damage was done, but I like to thing there... wasn't much.

And Supe is right - never take on a trained fighter. I'm by no means bragging, but the very, very few times in my "adult" life I have had to call upon those skills - even with my very limited (and admittedly now quite rusty) "skills", the other guy still doesn't know what happened. It's a skill set that must be trained and developed. None of us are born with it. Thank God...