Thus, the adoption of gloves to make bare-knuckled boxing safer made it possible for fighters to throw head punches without breaking their hands--resulting in more brain injuries and death.
But, following that loss and another at the hands of Gary Buckland for the Celtic lightweight title in February last year, Docherty fell away from boxing to the extent that he spent 15 months mulling over his future before making a winning return to the ring in June.