Olympic boxing hopefuls could be forced to fight without headgear or insurance following Boxing Australia's decision to ban headgear at the elite men's level - a move that has divided the boxing and medical communities.
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Boxing Australia has implemented the ban in line with the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) ban on protective headgear that came into effect on June 1.
Rule 33.1 of Boxing Australia's rules bans male competitors aged 19 to 40 from wearing headgear at national and international events conducted by Boxing Australia.
NSW Boxing has no plans to adopt the ban due to insurance complications for unprotected fighters.
NSW Boxing president Barry McDonald said: "All states are obligated by insurance to ensure fighters wear headgear at state level. We follow Boxing Australia's rules but for the moment we don't have the coverage and our blokes won't be fighting without insurance," he said.
Mr McDonald said he was not aware of any fights cancelled because of the changes introduced last month.
Veteran Illawarra boxing coach Billy Corbett welcomed the ban.
He said reliance on protective headgear exposed amateur fighters to potential brain injury because they tended to absorb punches rather than defend them.
"People use headgear to protect themselves, they're willing to take the shot in the head rather than learn to move their head away, to move their feet and get out of the road," Corbett said.
Alzheimer's Australia chief executive John Watkins called the ban "a retrograde step".
"We don't know enough about the long-term effects of repetitive brain injury for the association to blithely change the rules," Mr Watkins said.
"I am very concerned with the safety of boxers in the ring and their increased risk of long-term brain damage."
Alzheimer's Australia recently released a research paper linking repetitive sports-related head injuries to the development of dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinsons disease.
Mr Watkins said the AIBA needed to "justify the ban with clear medical research".
"I've never heard of anyone in the medical sphere denying the link between boxing and the onset of Parkinsons and dementia."
Neither the AIBA nor Boxing Australia responded to requests for an interview yesterday.
