‘A major concern’: Tuck inquest told Victorian boxing must address CTE better

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Victorian boxing’s current policies inadequately address fatal brain disease CTE and national regulations should be devised to better manage repetitive head knocks in combat sports, particularly during training, an inquest has heard.

American neurosurgeon Robert Cantu – a world-leading expert in sporting brain injuries – told the Victorian Coroner’s Court inquest into the death of former AFL player and boxer Shane Tuck that the state’s boxing concussion policies were “arguably state-of-the-art”, but head knocks which don’t cause concussion symptoms are overlooked.

Shane Tuck on the ground after being knocked out during a boxing match after his retirement from AFL.Credit: Getty

Cantu said these repetitive “subconcussive” blows are still associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease diagnosed in several deceased high-profile athletes who played contact sports.

“I did not find much about CTE … and I think that is a major concern, at least for me,” Cantu said about Victorian government’s Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board policies on Wednesday night.

Boxers wearing mouthguards with inbuilt sensors, more long-term studies tracking fighters’ brain health, and moving to a national body to create Australia-wide rules for sparring – where most repeated boxing head knocks occur – are among the steps Cantu advised the Victorian boxing board consider to improve education and research about brain trauma in the sport.

Cantu provided evidence at the Tuck inquest led by State Coroner John Cain after the former Richmond footballer took his own life in 2020 aged 38.

A post-mortem examination found Tuck had severe CTE at the time of his death and an Australian Sports Brain Bank neuropathologist later found it was the worst case they had seen.

Tuck embarked on a boxing career following his AFL retirement and fought five professional bouts from 2015 until 2017 – winning three, drawing once, and losing once.

In his debut loss, Tuck was carried out on a stretcher and hospitalised after his opponent landed an uppercut in the fourth round and knocked him out.

Last week, Cantu gave evidence to the Coroner’s Court of Victoria, via video link, about potential rules in Australian rules football which could help reduce brain trauma, suggesting adopting some US football rules reducing full-contact training was an option.

This week, his testimony focused on boxing.

Cantu said he thought children under 18 should not box and take repeated blows to the head, at the very least suggesting informed parental consent be required and encouraging youths training without a punch-throwing opponent instead.

But within Victorian professional boxing matches, Cantu commended the state for allowing the ringside doctor the authority to stop fights at any time when a boxer was at-risk of serious injury – a practice broader than other jurisdictions.

Cantu also found Victorian boxing’s governors encouraging fighters to donate their brains to science “meritorious”, but added: “But the fact there was no ongoing research directly with regard to CTE … that’s not adequate.”

Neurosurgeon Robert Cantu spoke at the inquest.

Government barrister Liam Brown, representing Victoria’s Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions which houses the state’s boxing board, suggested to Cantu that the board’s commitment to implementing recent Sports Medicine Australia recommendations and creating a medical advisory subcommittee demonstrated it was trying to make boxing safer.

“It would suggest that, yes,” Cantu responded. “It’s certainly making advances in the right direction, without question, from those reports.”

The inquest continues.

With Erin Pearson

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