Speaking on Off The Ball yesterday, Andy Lee said there's a stigma that surrounds fighters who quit during a fight.
After talking to Irish boxer Jason Quigley who recently lost his first fight, Lee said it can take a long time to get over a loss.
"I've talked before about a cultural shift in terms of how much a loss effects you when you do lose in boxing. It will often take years to get back to the same position. I've spoken about how it took me four years to get a rematch with Brian Vera."
"Even Jason Quigley talked about how even though he was taking a lot of punishment in the fight, he didn't want to quit."
Two boxers recently died from injuries sustained in the ring, Russian boxer Maksim Dadašev and Argentinan fighter Hugo Santillan. There's a sense now in boxing that there isn't enough being done to protect fighters.
"Maksim Dadašev had openly stated his desire to get an American green card and bring over his family from Russia," Lee said.
"So all of that happens and we have cases where fights go on for too long, the fighter takes too much punishment and it results in something tragic like a death."
For many fighters quitting isn't seen as a viable option because of how the boxing world views it.
"In terms of MMA, you will often see fighters tapping out and they're not shamed, there's no public shaming. This past weekend a fighter called David Allen fought David Price in London and Allen quit after the tenth round," he said.
"He took ten rounds of punishment and he couldn't see out of one eye and he was called a quitter online, he got a lot of stick for it."
The one thing that all fighters have is bravery and Lee thinks it's rich for people online to call them cowards.
"Calling fighter's cowards is the worst thing a fighter can be called and it should never happen because by definition they're the furthest thing from a coward because they're stepping into the ring to fight."
"There has to be a culture change and I think boxing can take some lessons from MMA and the fact that if a fighter quits when he doesn't have a chance that's ok."
What was already a terrible week for boxing was made worse with the news that American boxer Dillian Whyte tested positive for a banned substance. Lee said there should be a no-tolerance approach to failing drug tests in boxing.
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