How can a boxer take a punch to the head, from a fighter like say Mike Tyson in his prime, and not be killed. Almost any normal person would be unable to take that type of damage.

Question

I am aware they cover up and are trained, but some of those fighters have taken clean, straight shots and lived to tell the tale

In: Biology

Answer 1

Disclaimer first. As far as I know there isn’t any clear consensus on exactly why a punch can knock you out. The brain is really complicated and even neurologists don’t really understand how it works.

The human skull is incredibly strong. The dome shape makes it really hard to break without a weapon.

Short of puncturing the skull the main way to get knocked out or killed is brain trauma. Your brain basically floats inside your skull in a fluid. When your head gets rattled around your brain rattles around inside your skull.

That’s one reason why strong people are harder to knock out. When you punch them in the head their head doesn’t move as much so the brain doesn’t get jostled as badly.

Strikes to the back of the head can absolutely kill someone. You don’t even need to be Mike Tyson. I’ve been told that the most common cause of death in fist fights is that the person falls backwards and hits their head on something. If you’ve ever GENTLY slapped the back of your head just above the neck you can feel the jolt.

Strikes to the jaw are the ones that are most likely to cause knockouts. I have never heard a good explanation for what’s so special about the jaw but punches to the side of the head, nose, eyes, etc. while painful, rarely end up in a KO.

Mike Tyson was a sport fighter. The rules of boxing say you aren’t allowed to punch someone in the back of the head. So he wasn’t hitting people in the spot where it’s likely to kill you.