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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 established minimum health and safety standards for professional boxing and provided for limited federal oversight by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. In 2000, the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act amended the act to better protect boxers' economic well-being and enhance the integrity of the sport. However, reports of problems continue, including permanent and sometimes fatal injuries, economic exploitation, and corruption. GAO was asked to (1) identify fundamental elements considered important to protect professional boxers and enhance the integrity of the sport; (2) assess the extent to which provisions of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996, as amended (the act), cover these elements and determine whether selected state and tribal boxing commissions have documentation indicating compliance with the act's provisions; (3) determine whether selected states and tribes have provisions that cover additional elements; and (4) identify federal actions taken under the act."

This eloquent, streetwise book is a paean to America's Rust Belt and a compelling exploration of four milieus caught up in a great transformation of city life. With loving attention to detail and a fine sense of historical context, Carlo Rotella explores women's boxing in Erie, Pennsylvania; Buddy Guy and the blues scene in Chicago; police work and crime stories in New York City, especially as they converged in the making of the movie The French Connection; and attempts at urban renewal in the classic mill city of Brockton, Massachusetts.

Women have traditionally been credited only with marginal roles in the sport of boxing, even though they have competed as pugilists since the late 1880s. The author interviewed 12 women professional boxers in the United States in an effort to understand their position as athletes who compete in a sport considered deviant for women. This revealed that women pugilists face discrimination at gyms and in competitions, are aware of numerous stereotypes as a result of their participation in a deviant sport, and use several strategies to manage their identity in an effort to remain marketable in the industry. They are aware of the need for balance of a public identity that appears neither too masculine nor too feminine. This balance is done in an effort to avoid negative sanctions and thus improve chances of becoming a successful professional boxer.

Abstract
Whereas voice pitch is strongly linked to people's perceptions in contexts of sexual selection, such as attractiveness and dominance, evidence that links voice pitch to actual behaviour or the formidability of a speaker is sparse and mixed. In this registered report, we investigated how male speakers' voice pitch is linked to fighting success in a dataset comprising 135 (amateur) mixed martial arts and 189 (amateur) boxing fights. Based on the assumption that voice pitch is an honest signal of formidability, we expected lower voice pitch to be linked to higher fighting success. The results indicated no significant relation between a fighter's voice pitch, as directly measured before a fight, and successive fighting success in both mixed martial arts fighters and boxers.

The purpose of this case study was to examine the effects of a resistance-training program based on the optimum power loads (OPL) method on neuromuscular performance of Olympic boxing athletes during preparation for the Rio-2016 Olympic Games. Twelve elite amateur boxers from the Brazilian National Olympic Team participated in this study. Athletes were assessed at four time-points, over two consecutive competitive seasons. In the first season (considered as "control period"), the athletes executed a non-controlled strength-power training program for 10 weeks. In the second season (a seven-week experimental period), the elite boxers performed 14 power-oriented training sessions, comprising bench press (BP) and jump squat (JS) exercises at the OPL. Maximum bar-power output in BP and JS exercises was measured pre and post both training phases. Magnitude-based inferences were used to compare changes in pre and post training tests. Bar-power outputs increased meaningfully in both BP (+8%) and JS (+7%) exercises after the OPL training program. In contrast, after the control period, no worthwhile improvements were observed in the variables tested. Based on the findings of this study, highly trained boxers might benefit from the use of a training scheme based on OPL.

This article discusses the representation of female boxers in the North Korean media. Communists proclaim the liberation of women as one of their major political aims, and the media's portrayal of female pugilists appears to adhere to this political notion. No negative or sexualized description can be found in the North Korean media coverage of female boxing. However, a deeper analysis reveals that the media in this communist state ideologically underline a broader political structure based on state patriarchy. Moreover, the political use of female boxing is evident. In this regard, the priority seems to be given to nationalism over feminism. With respect to this, this article contends that while the North Korean media representation of female sport highlights active and skilful female athletes, such a portrayal must be seen within the limit of broader patriarchal politics. Thus, media coverage of female sport in `actually existing communism' appears to differ considerably from the genuine sense of increasing the social status of women.

The aim of this study was to examine changes in body mass (BM) and power-related measures in Olympic boxers during an official qualifying boxing tournament. Fourteen elite amateur boxers from the Brazilian National Team (eight men and six women) participated in this study. Athletes performed three fights in four days against the same opponent of the same weight-category. Before and immediately after every fight, BM, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and power production in the bench-press and half-squat exercises were assessed in the same order and on the same time of the day. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with the Bonferroni post-hoc analysis was used to determine the variations between pre- and post-measures. The statistical significance was set as p < 0.05. The athletes were able to maintain their baseline weight and physical performance throughout the experimental period, as shown by the lack of significant changes in BM, CMJ height, and upper- and lower-limb power output. Throughout a four-day qualifying tournament, the BM and power-related performance of Olympic boxers were not affected either by match execution or by successive matches. As scoring actions are highly dependent on muscle power, it is likely that these combat athletes are able to maintain optimal levels of performance across consecutive matches.

BACKGROUND: Balance function is a key indicator in the identification of and recovery from concussion. The NeuroCom Sensory Organization Test (SOT) is used to objectively quantify balance using input from the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory systems. Baseline tests are necessary for comparison post-concussion. PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study was to establish baseline SOT measures for the population that will be useful in the concussion assessment, diagnosis, and return to duty decisions following a concussion. Secondary aims were to compare females and males as well as concussed versus non-concussed. To the knowledge of the authors these are the only published normative data for a highly-active military population ages 17-23. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study METHODS: Two hundred fifty-three (70 female and 183 male) cadets in a boxing course at a service academy were enrolled. The participants were evaluated on the SOT using the NeuroCom Balance Manager (Natus Medical Inc., Seattle, WA) and each condition, composite (COMP) score, and ratio score were recorded. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in SOT COMP scores between females (COMP = 76.67 ± 7.25) and males (COMP = 76.57 ± 7.77), nor between participants with history of concussion (COMP = 75.83 ± 7.90) versus those never concussed (COMP = 76.75 ± 7.57). CONCLUSION: This study provides SOT reference values for young, healthy, active individuals, which will assist in the interpretation of individual scores for concussion diagnosis and recovery, as well as serve as baseline data for future studies. These data on 17-23-year-olds will add to the currently available normative values of 14-15-year-olds and 20-59-year-olds. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4