Concussion expert wants boxing banned, says punt returns should be removed from football

A leading concussion expert wants boxing to be banned altogether due to the significant damage boxers do to one another. And while he doesn’t want football to go anywhere, he thinks players would be much safer if punt returns were removed from the game.

Kevin Guskiewicz, dean of the University of North Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences and co-director of the Matthew Gfeller Sports-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center, was profiled in a recent news report from Raleigh, North Carolina’s The News & Observer. His resume also includes working with the NFL to prevent concussions and improve player safety.

Discussing the potential removal of punt returns, Guskiewicz proposes that punts themselves could still be a part of football—players just wouldn't have the option of advancing the ball once they caught it. 

Guskiewicz does not agree with critics who say concussions are getting worse. In fact, he said in the story, 2018 is a great time to be involved in sports.

“There’s probably no better time to play sports, including contact sports, than right now because of how much more we know today about concussions,” he said, as quoted by The News & Observer.

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Michael Walter
Michael Walter, Managing Editor

Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.

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