‘The fog soon clears’: Bodily negotiations, embodied understandings, competent body action and ‘brain injuries’ in boxing

Boxing is ‘all about bodies’; beautiful bodies, broken bodies and, sometimes, brain-damaged bodies. And while a lot of research has explored the physiological side of ‘punch drunk’ syndrome, far less work has attempted to consider how boxers experience brain injuries. Perhaps surprisingly, considering the sports historical and symbolic ties to concussion and degenerative brain diseases, contemporary socio-cultural explorations of the sport tend...