What is interesting is that things actually seem to be heading in the opposite direction regarding head gear. There has been a lot of talk about getting rid of head gear in amateur fights. Boxers hate head gear.

For one, it impairs their vision and they don’t see some punches coming in time to defend or dodge. Secondly, there is the thought that a clean knockout early in a fight is better than the constant battering you take in a 10 or 12 round fight.

I don’t know which is right or wrong, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some type of change in the not too distant future. It will have to come from the state athletic commissions because the “governing bodies” of boxing aren’t likely to make the changes themselves.

And regarding Pat and Maxim, I wouldn’t say I was really close to them, but I spent a fair amount of time with both of them recently. Enough to know that they were both great guys.