It seems as though it should be obvious, but there is a lot of long-term, irreparable damage that can come from making a living out of being punched in the face.
It is something that British fighter Anthony Joshua is very aware of, and he has revealed that he fears he could end up in a wheelchair if he continues fighting too far into his adult life.
He recently made his return to the ring when he took on Jermaine Franklin and beat him on points. Before that, he had suffered two consecutive defeats to Ukrainian fighter Oleksandr Usyk.
He now has his eye on a potential big-money fight with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia. That is the sort of fight that could see Joshua pocket around £30 million.
Joshua’s fears for his health
The fighter has long made it clear that he continues fighting as he wants to secure financial security for those in his life, but he won’t push things too far.
He told Men’s Health: “In boxing, people walk in the gym one way and not many walk out the same way, because of the trauma and the stuff they put their body through. I want my legacy to be, I walked out healthy. Imagine me at the age of 50 or 60 in a wheelchair, fragile because of the trauma I put my body through.
“My legacy should be when I’m old, I’m still fresh. I want people to say, ‘Oh wow, he still looks good, he still looks after himself.’ That’s a legacy. ‘In December potentially there is a big fight that should be cracking with me and Wilder. It has been a long time coming. There are a lot of moving shapes at the minute, a lot of things happening, so one step at a time. But it has been a long time coming, for sure.”
