AUSTIN TROUT has a lot on his mind. He is 37 and does not want to stop fighting. He is a former champion who believes his best days might still be in front of him. But Trout is aware of the dangers of continuing too long and what might happen to him over time, both sooner and later. As part of the world’s largest ongoing brain study into combat sport athletes, Trout is also a husband and a father, but he knows what could happen if he takes one fight too many, or, worse, he has already been living this brutal life too long.
He pauses to think about a future with his brain health compromised; when neurological deficits begin to creep in and his family have to deal with his decline.
“I don’t want to be a burden on them,” Trout sighs. “I’m supposed to be taking care of them. I’m a fighter and I’m their protector and provider and how can I protect and provide for my wife if she has to wipe my mouth and feed me?”
Pictures of sporting icons hang everywhere you look on the walls of one of the world’s leading sporting neurologists in Boston, from the NFL and major ice hockey leagues to other contact sports. The names are legendary, and all of the framed 10x8s appear to be signed, although there are only two boxers that I
