Whatever Happened to Punch-Drunk Boxers?

Anybody who is a fan of boxing movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s knows that a dependable cliché of this sports movie genre was the punch-drunk older guy who does not quite seem to be all there. Punchy kind of lost his footing in the 1960s and by the late 70s when boxing movies made a comeback from the sublime Raging Bull to the ridiculous Rocky series, he was pretty much a thing of the past. In part this collapse of an utterly dependable staple of not just boxing movies, but many underworld movies, may be due to the fact that in real life the number of punch-drunk boxers has been severely reduced. This, of course, is a good thing.

In case you are not aware of exactly what it means for a boxer to be punch-drunk, the primary symptom exhibited is a slowness in reaction. The punch-drunk boxer may appear to be suffering brain damage, and that is because he usually is. His reactions are slow and they seem even slower in response to the fact that during his prime he was among the quickest athletes in the world. The prevalence and even expectation of punch-drunkenness among doctors led to the tragic belief that Muhammad Ali was exhibiting signs of having developed it when in fact he was showing the early stages of Parkinson's Diseases. It is also important to realize that being punch-drunk is not relegated merely to boxers. Any athlete who regularly suffers blows to the head can be subject to the condition, including those involved in rugby or the martial arts.