Boxing: Medicine men begin to work hi-tech magic

England's boxers enjoyed a heavyweight back-up team. But, says Alan Hubbard, there is room for improvement elsewhere

Even Angelo Dundee would splutter into his sponge. Gone are the old boxing maxims like "Be first, my son". Walk into the gymnasium where England's Commonwealth Games squad have been training and chalked up on the blackboard you will see buzz words like "core stability", while the emphasis is on team bonding and group therapy as much as skipping and sparring.

The appliance of science has finally hit the noble art flush on the chin, with psychologists as vital a part of the boxer's corner as the cuts man and coach, and the bucket and sponge. The flapping towel has been thrown out of the window and in has come hi-tech medicine.

The first person to greet a fighter on leaving the ring here has been Marcus Smith, PhD, stepping forward with a hand-held computer and a needle. A quick jab on the finger and a blood count is taken on a meter rather like the one used to check sugar levels for diabetes.

In fact, this one indicates blood lactate, and the reading shows what, and when, a boxer should eat before his next bout, and how long he should rest. "It also gives us an idea of his general condition and helps with the all-important weight-making process," explains the 37-year-old Smith, the only doctor in the land whose PhD is in boxing.

"The science of boxing, actually," he says. "I've always been fascinated by the sport. I had only one bout myself as an amateur and quickly decided that my career was in treating boxers, not fighting them."

The 12-man boxing squad, five of whom reached yesterday's finals, also have their own medical officer, Dr Michael Loosemoore, psychologist Paul Russell, a physio and a nutritionist. Smith terms himself an exercise physiologist. "He has moved on boxing science light years," says Dr Chris Jarvis, chief medical officer to the 600-plus England Games competitors. "He has changed the whole structure of the way boxers prepare."

According to the 55-year-old Jarvis, most other sports in the Games have also made dramatic changes to the way athletes are cared for in medical and mental terms. He leads a team of six head-quarters consultants who include an orthopaedic surgeon, a haematologist and an accident and emergency specialist. There are also 10 other doctors dedicated to individual sports, some 30 physios, half-a-dozen masseurs, seven psychologists and a sport therapist.

"I think our medical set-up now compares favourably with any nation here, including Australia," says Jarvis.

Things have certainly moved on since the days when Sebastian Coe says he travelled to a European Cup as part of an all-male squad whose team doctor was a gynaecologist. "The only morning sickness about was alcohol-induced." Coe feels that despite medical advances in sport, Britain still lags behind in recognition of sports medicine within the National Health Service.

Jarvis, who was the cycling team's doctor for 20 years, agrees. "We really need to encourage more NHS consultants to catch up with other nations." But even the best medical set-up in the world could not forestall the sad saga of England's running wounded, the shock injuries to Dwain Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis in the 100 metres. "People have asked why we have had to many injuries before enduring the games, but the reality is that there have been no more than in any other major team," says Jarvis.

"It was unusual to get two in one race, but athletes are running faster and faster and pushing themselves to limits which, while they may produce great performances, also increase the risk of injury."

Jarvis was also "disappointed" the heavyweight boxing star David Haye decided to break camp to seek medical advice from a London consultant on the bicep injury which subsequently ruled him out of the tournament. "He clearly knew we had the facilities here to deal with the problem and it is a pity that he did not give them a chance to deal with it just as expertly. But as a doctor I respect his right to make that choice."

Haye was among those England boxers who spent a week before the Games rafting and mountain walking at the British Olympic Association's camp in Austria as part of the team-building process. Nowadays mind games play a vital role in real games, and it gave the boxers the opportunity for sessions with team psychologist Russell. "Boxers respond well in these circumstances," says Russell. "It may be an individual sport but the team ethic is important in a competition like this."

The great Dundee, of course, might demur. But he never needed to get anyone to psych up Muhammad Ali, who was a master of the art himself. When it comes to "core stability" – apparently it has more to do with the balance of the body than the mind – it is a phrase that would have passed him by in his years in pugilism

And as for that post-fight jab, well, the one Ali used in the ring was enough to draw blood and give any foe the needle.