What I did when I identified Mike Webster's thing, I showed it to other doctors. We all agreed that this was something new, but we had to give it a name. This was not dementia pugilistica. Maybe we could have called it dementia footballitica!
If chronic bashing of the head could destroy a boxer's brain, couldn't it also destroy a football player's brain? Surely someone in the history of football had thought to look for dementia pugilistica. Unlike boxers, football players wear helmets, but a helmet can't fully protect the head from damaging impact.
That's the thing with dementia. If you're with somebody who has a serious illness, you can usually talk to them, have a laugh every now and then - the person is still with you. With dementia, there's no conversation; there's no togetherness, no sharing.
For sure, I would like to continue my life with the strings of football by being a coach, manager - I don't know. But one thing is clear: I will continue doing something related to football.
I will certainly continue in football in a different role. I will continue with my contractual, publicity and managerial commitments and finish my studies for coaching.
Boxing should not let - we should not let - the people in business of boxing should not let a person to just walk right in and get the grand prize of boxing. You can't do it in basketball, football, hockey.
I made an instant connection with boxing right away. Boxing became such a part of me. I ate boxing, I slept boxing, I lived boxing. Boxing was a way of expressing myself because I was not that outspoken.
When I was a little bitty boy, I was a fan of boxing. But in Louisiana, it's football, football, football, and then everything else.
The FBRI will continue to carry out fundamental research mainly in fields where new medical treatments or medications are urgently required, such as cancer immunology, ageing and dementia.
Those with dementia are still people and they still have stories and they still have character and they're all individuals and they're all unique. And they just need to be interacted with on a human level.
I think it's doing a good job at the things that Premier Boxing Champions was setting out for. I think it is still heading in the right direction, I don't think it's over. It is definitely bringing more boxing fans and an audience from people that normally wouldn't be watching boxing. I think it's doing a great job and will probably do a better job in the future.
My mother gave me boxing gloves; I wanted boxing gloves. I liked to box. So I still have them. They're still in my bookcase, very old, tattered, and they were cherished.
Although boxing is a sport, it's still entertainment. You've still got the fear, press conferences, the stare-downs. It's all an act in some ways. My whole life I've been doing it. I love this side of boxing - as much as the actual fight.
Boxing was on the one hand barbaric, unconscionable, out of place in modern society. But then, so are war, racism, poverty, and pro football. Men died boxing, yet there was nobility in defending oneself.
Our goal is to continue to build the pipeline to fight all aspects of disease for all forms of dementia.
After 14 years in boxing, the best decision I could have made was to take the last year off. My mind was not in boxing, but since I got here with Freddie, everything is working perfectly again. Boxing is all I know. Boxing is my life. Through boxing, I raised my family and I work to provide the best future for them. They are the reason I love boxing.