British middleweight prizefighter Nick Blackwell is in an induced coma after suffering near-fatal brain injuries in a British title fight against Chris Eubank Jr, at London’s Wembley Stadium Saturday night.
Eubank was cornered in the fight in part by his father, former WBO middleweight and super-middleweight world champion, Chris Eubank Sr. In a moving and remarkable episode, the father did everything he could, to protect his son’s opponent.
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“If the referee doesn’t stop it, then I don’t know what to tell you,” said father to son, as transcribed by Neal Sears for the Daily Mail. “But I will tell you this: one, if he doesn’t stop it and we keep on beating him like this, he is getting hurt; two, if it goes to a decision, why didn’t the referee stop the fight? I don’t get why.
“So maybe you shouldn’t leave it to the referee. So you’re not going to take him out to the face – you’re going to take him out to the body.”
The ringside doctor finally stopped the fight in the 10th round, as defending champion Blackwell was unable to see through his left eye. The fighter collapsed shortly afterwards and was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where a CAT scan revealed bleeding on the brain. A follow up CAT scan showed the bleeding had stopped, so no emergency brain surgery was performed.
Eubank notably decreased the volume of the punches in the final two rounds, and some observers have suggested that the father’s kind advice may have saved Blackwell’s life.
Eubanks Sr’s words may stem from 21 September 1991, when he defended his WBO title against challenger Michael Watson, knocking him out in the 12th. Watson suffered bleeding on the brain, spent 40 days in a coma, and had six brain operations.
Watson spent over a year in intensive care and rehabilitation, and six more years in a wheelchair, as he slowly regained the ability to speak and write.
A dozen years after the incident, Watson completed the London Marathon, to raise funds for the Brain and Spine Foundation. It took him six days. He finished the race along with Eubank Sr. and his neurosurgeon Peter Hamlyn, both of whom had become friends.
There was no ambulance or paramedic at the 1991 event. Watson was not attended to for some eight minutes, until Doctors wearing dinner jackets arrived. Watson successfully sued the British Boxing Board of Control for negligence and won damages of around £1 million. The BBBoC ended up selling their London headquarters to pay the compensation.
Neurosurgeon Peter Hamlyn cited a ghastly feeling of deja vu watching Saturday’s fight.
Hopefully because Mr Blackwell did not have hypoxia in addition to the brain injury, the swelling won’t be too bad, and over the forthcoming days the pressure in his brain will normalise, they will be able to lighten the anaesthetic and, hopefully, he will emerge with very little damage,” said Hamlyn to the Telegraph.
“But it is very unlikely that he will box again.
There were two things we learnt from the case of Michael Watson 25 years ago. One was followed, one was not.
“The procedure in medical care was followed carefully and precisely and Mr Blackwell did not suffer hypoxia [oxygen starvation to the brain] and was medically induced into a coma. But the fight was not stopped when it should have been.”
The BBoC backed the referee.
“Blackwell wanted to be a boxer,” said British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Robert Smith. “We all know the risks.”
