Comments Thread For: Magomed Abdusalamov and The Dark Side of Boxing

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Thomas Hauser - At 10:00 pm on November 2nd, Russian heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov entered the ring at Madison Square Garden to fight Mike Perez. The following morning, Abdusalamov was in a coma following the removal of a portion of his skull and other surgical procedures to treat bleeding and swelling in his brain. As of this writing, doctors don’t know whether or not he will survive. If he does, it’s possible that he will never talk, see, or walk again.

Everyone agrees that what happened to Abdusalamov is a tragedy. How it happened has been distorted in the retelling.

An unnamed source at the New York State Athletic Commission (which had jurisdiction over the fight) told the New York Daily News, “We did everything we were supposed to do that night. He never said anything was wrong. After the fight, he went back to the audience and was watching the main event.” [Click Here To Read More]

[dankitydank]

Shame on the hospital that only took him seriously after Boris shouted that he was a fighter from madison square garden.

[Foreign Soil]

That's boxing in a nutshell - takes a lot of people to run it not very well.

[Drunk Punch]

Well researched article. There are a lot of people at fault over Mago's treatment that night. It was obvious he was distressed and not responding properly, the first call of duty was his corner who should have definitely stopped the fight. He was not responding to their questions and his body language and physical appearance made it obvious he was distressed. As for the post fight care - shocking. What's the point of having doctors there if they can't diagnose or properly examine a wounded fighter? The cheapass insurance from K2, the ineptitude of the hospital staff making a brain injury victim wait, all added up to this tragic outcome.

I sincerely hope the big guy makes it through with all of his faculties intact and the organizers, HBO, K2 etc pick up his medical bills and retirement fund. Its the least they could do.

[Light_Speed]

At the end of round eight, referee Harvey Dock followed Curtis to his corner and told trainer Andre Rozier, “That’s it.”

Actually, the referee said it more like a question and waited until the trainer said "yes" before he stopped it.

As far as the Cotto-Foreman fight, it wasn't a life threatening injury and Foreman was still fighting back, the ref doesn't have to stop it when you throw the towel so Mercante used his prerogative to let the fight continue.

Just like with the rumors about Mayweather's dirty tests, Hauser is once again making unfounded assumptions and overreaching with his conclusions. Should fighters be systematically sent to the hospital for any type of injury? That would be ideal sure, but that wouldn't have changed what happened. They would have stitched Abdusalamov up at the hospital and they would have given him that same test with the numbers, which he passed. Now if you implement a mandatory CT scan for fighters who take a lot of punches then that would make a real difference, we should focus on that instead of playing the blame game.

[Jloro]

Damn this sucks. Makes me feel bad for rooting against him when the fight was happening.

[thuggery]

Smh @ the entire situation...

And not getting appropriate attention until it was mentioned he was a "fighter from Madison Square Garden"

Hope Mago makes it.

[Weebler I]

Very good article.

I didn't realise his nose was broken by a forearm. Watching, it seemed like the fight should have been stopped in Round 7, but obviously knowing that, it really should have been stopped sooner.

Medical insurance is a big issue to be addressed too if 10k doesn't even cover a CT scan and fixing a broken nose.

[nycsmooth]

NYSAC so cheap; remember how they screwed Joey Gamache???...wouldn't take much on Latham's part to up the amount...I have read some states require 2 ambulances, in that if 1 fighter is being transported, there's another1 ready for the next fight...

[DoktorSleepless]

A great way to circumvent the quitting stigma is to simply stop mic'ing the corner or just don't show it all together. This way the fighter and trainer can speak honestly to each other without worrying about the public judging them. If a fighter wants to stop, the trainer will be able to stop it himself without everyone knowing it was the fighter's decision. I would rather have a minute of round highlights over boring corner work anyway.

But the New York State Athletic Commission requires only a $10,000 medical insurance policy for fighters and no death benefit

Don't thinks this is correct. It's a $7,500 medical insurance policy and a $100,000 death benefit according to the laws and regulation on the NYSAC website.

8928-a. Duty to provide insurance for licensed
boxers and professional wrestlers.


1. All persons, parties or corporations having
licenses as promoters or who are licensed in
accordance with section 28-b of this act shall
continuously provide insurance for the protection of
licensed boxers and professional wrestlers, appearing
in boxing bouts or wrestling exhibitions. Such
insurance coverage shall provide for reimbursement to
the licensed athlete for medical, surgical and hospital
care, with a minimum limit of seven thousand five
hundred dollars for injuries sustained while
participating in any program operated under the
control of such licensed promoter and for a payment of
one hundred thousand dollars to the estate of any
deceased athlete where such death is occasioned by
injuries received in this state during the course of a
program in which such licensed athlete or professional
wrestler participated under the promotion or control of
any licensed promoter. The commission may from time
to time, in its discretion, increase the amount of such
minimum limits.