Nick Blackwell Collapses With Brain Bleed After Losing to Chris Eubank Jr.
London, UK (March 26th, 2016)– Nick Blackwell was rushed to a London hospital after he was beaten by Chris Eubank Jr in their British middleweight title fight at Wembley Arena.
Blackwell was the holder of the belt but Eubank dominated the encounter and delivered a barrage of punches for the majority of the fight.
Referee Victor Loughlin eventually stopped the contest after 2min 21sec in round 10 on the advice of the ringside doctor, who decided there was too much damage to Blackwell’s left eye for him to continue.
And, moments after the result was officially announced, Blackwell collapsed in the centre of the ring and ringside medics rushed to provide him with oxygen as a stretcher was assembled.
Blackwell, 25, was rushed straight out of the arena, and was tended to by on-site medics before he was taken to hospital for further assistance.
Robert Smith, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, told The Telegraph last night that Blackwell “had immediately received a scan in hospital, where it was discovered that he had suffered a small bleed on his brain, and medical experts were taking full care of him and would make a decision on whether to operate”.
Eubank, who was celebrating in the ring when Blackwell collapsed, later admitted that he thought the referee should have waved the fight off earlier than he did.
He said: “I was hitting him with some big shots and the referee saw fit to let the fight go on. Looking back now, maybe he should have stopped it earlier.”
The incident provoked memories of Eubank’s famous father, Chris Snr, who was the opponent when Michael Watson suffered life-changing injuries in their WBO middleweight title fight at White Hart Lane in 1991.
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