About the doctor
Dr. Edwin Homanksy received his bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in 1972 and his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 1976.
He is board certified in internal and emergency medicine.
In 1980, he began his career in combat sports as a ringside physician. He was instrumental in reducing the number of rounds in championship boxing matches from 15 to 12.
In the 1990s, Homansky also initiated the first mandated HIV testing in the world of sports and was integral in making Nevada the first state to test for anabolic steroid use among boxers and mixed martial artists. collapsed. Two weeks later he died.
“That stays with you forever,” Homansky says. “I just didn’t think he was in serious trouble.”
An amateur boxer in Georgia, he went to his first professional fight in Las Vegas in 1978. He was mesmerized by the human combat. Soon he talked himself into helping the head ringside physician, Dr. Don Romeo.
It was Romeo who helped Homansky become ringside physician for much of the ’80s and ’90s. He examined some of the best boxers in the business, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Oscar de la Hoya and George Foreman.
Dr. Margaret Goodman, who’s also worked as a ringside physician, notes Homansky pushed for brain scans for fighters.
“He made boxers demonstrate fitness,” she says,” He didn’t want them doing permanent damage to themselves.”
The power of boxers — particularly Mike Tyson in the ’80s — still amazes Homansky.
“He hit Trevor Berbick (then heavyweight champ) with a left hook andhewentdown.hetriedtoget up twice and went down twice. Is boxing brutal? Yes. Is it dangerous? Yes. But it will always be around. Boxing is part of the nature of man. Two men competing with their fists. All we can do is make it as safe as possible.”
Paul Harasim’s column runs Monday in Health. Contact him at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow @paulharasim on Twitter.