Dementia pugilistica

Dementia pugilistica (DP) is a type of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease with features of dementia. DP may affect amateur or professional boxers, wrestlers as well as athletes in other sports who suffer concussions. DP is also called chronic boxer's encephalopathy, traumatic boxer’s encephalopathy, boxer's dementia, chronic traumatic brain injury associated with boxing (CTBI-B), and punch-drunk syndrome. DP was historically considered equivalent to CTE but is now considered a subtype of CTE.

The condition is caused by repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows (blows that are below the threshold of force necessary to cause concussion), or both. Because of the concern that boxing may cause DP, there is a movement among medical professionals to ban the sport. Medical professionals have called for such a ban since as early as the 1950s.

Symptoms and signs of DP develop progressively over a long latent period sometimes amounting to decades, with the average time of onset being about 12 to 16 years after the start of a career in boxing. The condition is thought to affect around 15% to 20% of professional boxers.

Punch Drunk (TV series)

Punch Drunk was a British sitcom created and written by Clayton Moore. It was produced by Colin Gilbert of The Comedy Unit, BBC Scotland.

The show ran for 1 series of 6 episodes in 1993 on BBC1. The first episode was directed by Colin Gilbert and the remaining five by Ron Bain.

It starred Kenny Ireland as Vinnie Binns, the owner of a boxing gym, who discovers a young prospect in Hance Glover (John Kazek) after spotting him perform in a pub fracas.

Both Vinnie and Hance hold a candle for Vikki Brown (Diana Hardcastle), the girlfriend of the head of the Doctors Against Boxing organisation, Norman Banks, played by Jonathan Kydd.

Vinnie's seedy boxing arch-rival is Hunter (Sean Scanlan) whose plooky sidekick is Slug (Gilbert Martin).

Other characters were boxing trainer Neillie (Jake D'Arcy), Hance's mother, Mrs Gordon (Claire Nielson), and Danny, a slow-witted boxer at the end of his career, played by Grant Smeaton.

Critical response

From British Comedy Guide

References