‘Ban could make boxing more dangerous’

Former world champion Eubank Sr warns against forcing sport underground.

LONDON: Boxing should not be banned following the brain injury suffered by Nick Blackwell because the sport would become “more dangerous” if forced underground, says former world champion Chris Eubank Sr.

His son Chris Eubank Jr defeated Blackwell in a British middleweight title fight on Saturday which left his opponent in an induced coma with bleeding on his brain.

“Boxing should not be banned for one reason — if it were ever abolished it would go underground and then there would be far, far more incidents of damage to fighters,” Eubank Sr told a news conference. “If you ban it, boxing becomes more dangerous and I don’t think any person with a reasonable mind can argue with that.”



Blackwell, 25, collapsed in the ring after the fight was called off in round 10 because of swelling over his left eye. He remains heavily sedated in a London hospital but his condition is ‘not deteriorating’, his family said in a statement.

Surgeon Peter Hamlyn, who operated on Michael Watson after he suffered brain damage in a 1991 fight with Eubank Sr, said medical procedures were followed properly, but insists the fight should have been stopped earlier.



“It was clearly a one-sided fight by the seventh or eighth round and it should have been stopped. He took too many uppercuts and he suffered a blitz,” said Hamlyn. “It seemed insane for it to go on, because only one man was going to win the fight.” AFP

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th,  2016.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.