There can be serious repercussions from hitting in the head. Football player Alex Karras who recently passed away, lost a lot of function in later years from the damage he sustained during his football career. And, there's been movement in some areas to remove headgear for boxers with the assumption that minus headgear a fighter is less likely to hit hard, so the headgear could encourage more brutal hitting.

Yes, it is possible to get brain damage, it's been proven to cause a type of dementia - called dementia pugilistica, and it can come years afterward so you may never realize you have sustained brain damage until things start to degrade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_pu...

You should do some reading and decide for yourself - some articles to start

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16...

http://www.samefacts.com/2012/10/journal...

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/13/foo...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/articl...

Boxing is a combat contact sport. Getting hit comes with the territory. Every individual person is different. Some can take more punishment than others. In my opinion it is good to learn and know how to defend yourself but to be a pro boxer and spar and fight regularly in the long run is going to do you more harm than good. Yes it is just common sense getting hit in the head is not good for you especially 100 times a day for years. You could develop Parkinsons like Ali or Terry Norris. It can cause Epilepsy-seizures. Also many older boxers get a condition called Pugilistic Dementia this is directly related to head trauma. The amatuers do not encourage knockouts however point fighting and volume of punches. However with that said along the way even with headgear you are still getting hit.

Can you get hurt from boxing? Yes, of course, it's combat sport. More than likely though, you won't get injured like that. There's plenty of Boxers who fought hundreds of fights on top level scales and never sustained that kind of injury. Then again, there's boxers that have.

If you're looking for safety as priority 1, then boxing isn't for you.

Honestly, you really don't have to worry too much about it. Especially if you're just in the amateur rankings for now because all that gear you wear is there to prevent getting all of those injuries.

If you really enjoyed boxing, but really don't want to take a chance in getting seriously hurt like that, then I'd say just do it as a hobby and nothing more.

That's not really something you should be worried about unless you're planning on becoming a pro boxer.

The potential is there of course, but there is no strong link between sparring or amateur boxing and brain damage.

I began attending a boxing gym about two months ago, and so far it has been great. I've been taught how to throw punches, move, defend, etc., and I've really enjoyed my training so far. But two days ago they proposed me to get into the ring and fight with a guy my age and weight (about 20, 70 kilos) and I accepted. The fight wasn't too violent or anything, neither of us got hurt, and we wore all our protecting gear. But nevertheless, I've been wondering, is boxing a good idea considering the possibility of getting a hard hit in the head or KO? Is it possible that I get brain damage or lose IQ points by boxing? Please, I expect honest & informative & serious answers. I've really enjoyed boxing so far but if it may affect my brain maybe I'll reconsider my choice of sport.