The Northern Irish junior lightweight John Cooney is in intensive care following his defeat on Saturday evening by Nathan Howells of Wales.
Their fight was stopped in the ninth round at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The 28-year-old Cooney was given medical attention in the ring, before being carried out of it on a stretcher and taken to the nearby Royal Victoria Hospital.
“On arrival it was discovered that John had an intracranial haemorrhage and underwent immediate surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain,” read a statement released on Monday by Cooney’s promoter Mark Dunlop, of MHD Promotions.
“John is currently in the intensive care unit and in the hospital’s capable hands of the ICU team.”
Cooney and Howells, 31, had contested the Celtic title.