Blood sport: Olympic boxers dealing with huge spike in facial cuts since AIBA rules change
The reality of the governing bodies decision to do away with head gear in men’s Olympic boxing begins to hit home as the sports most visceral elements are exposed
Olympic boxing is bloody again.
Men are fighting without headgear for the first time in 36 years, making the sport debatably safer and undoubtedly more attractive to fans. But the most tangible consequence is gore: at least 10 boxers at the Rio Games have already incurred significant facial cuts in the first five days of the tournament.
Algerian middleweight Ilyas Abbadi was unsure how he got the 11/2-inch gash outside his left eye during his victory over Congo’s Mpi Ngamissengue on Tuesday, but blood trickled down his face during the bout.
The cleaned-up wound still gaped to reveal bloody tissue afterward, and he could only hope his training staff could close it satisfactorily before his next fight Friday.
“Now I know the value of the headgear,” Abbadi said through a translator. “I think for the amateurs, that would be better. I would prefer to fight with headgear, but this is how it is.”
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