Los Angeles (AFP)

A new death that leaves boxing groggy: the American Patrick Day, taken to 27 years by a brain injury after a knockout, highlights the difficulty of protecting boxers in a sport inseparable blows to the head.

Patrick Day, who fell to the floor in the 10th round of a Chicago fight against his compatriot Charles Conwell on October 12, died Wednesday after suffering a brain injury after four days in a coma.

He was evacuated unconscious on a stretcher and transported to the Norhtwestern Memorial Hospital in the city, where he was then urgently treated with brain surgery. He died surrounded by his family and his trainer.

He is at least the third professional boxer this year to have succumbed to his injuries after a fight, after the Argentinean Hugo Santillan and the Russian Maxim Dadashev.

What revive the controversy on brain injuries in this sport whose blows to the head are an essential component.

"It's inevitable that it can happen," says Dr. Maryannick Machard, president of the medical commission of the French Boxing Federation. "When you hit the head regularly, it's not abnormal that there are glitches."

Hence the compulsory presence in France of a doctor near the rings. At the high level, boxers are regularly subjected to MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image), to detect possible brain damage.

In the statement announcing the death of Day, the US fighting promoter Lou DiBella indirectly called on the authorities to adopt stricter security standards.

"It's very difficult to explain or justify the dangers of boxing in a moment like this ... However, it's time to take action." Although we do not have the answers, we we know the many questions to ask and we have the means to respond responsibly, to make boxing safer for all participants, "he wrote, without further details.

- Fatals "second impacts" -

In boxing, the main danger comes from the "second impact syndrome", fatal in one out of two cases and caused by a new blow to the head, sometimes very light, after suffering a first concussion within minutes or days, explains the French neurologist Jean-François Chermann.

"It is essential that we follow professional boxers better than at present," he says, calling for more allocated funds and tests, in the preseason, and in the days before and after the fighting.

The symptoms are difficult to detect because they can evaporate after a few minutes, or on the contrary occur days after the shock. Concussions also favor the appearance of degeneration years later.

They have already sparked scandals in several contact sports, including rugby in Europe in 2018 and even more so in American football, a sport-king in the United States whose authorities have been accused for years of having turned a blind eye to the dangers incurred by the players.

Another difficulty: boxers who defraud to pass between the drops. The case of Boris Velichkov, a Bulgarian amateur died in September after a professional fight, which he could participate by presenting the papers of his cousin.

Or Jeffrey Claro, a Filipino who died in 2017 of a second impact after a KO in training, suspected as 150 of his peers to have provided false brain scans to continue boxing.

Others change their discipline to escape controls. "When I put a boxer on foot for 30 days (in boxing), he continued to do Thai boxing and to take shots in the head", misses Maryannick Machard.

To remedy this, France is working to unify the regulations of its federations, for example on rest periods or the definition of KO, including with the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), extreme fighting sport allowing elbowing and kicking. knee. It is all the rage in the United States and must be legalized before the end of the year in France.

Boxers should also have, from 2020, a "digital passport" containing their medical history. His consultation will be mandatory before the fighting.

© 2019 AFP