Heavyweight fighter Magomed Abdusalamov was placed in a medically induced coma as he underwent brain surgery following his first career loss on Saturday night.
Dan Rafael of ESPN reports the Russian southpaw was in stable condition at a New York hospital. He originally was getting checked out for hand and nose injuries after the Madison Square Garden fight when a blood clot was found and needed treatment.
"He had surgery to have the blood clot taken out and a small piece of his skull removed to allow the [brain] swelling to go down," Nathan Lewkowicz told ESPN.com. "After the fight he seemed fine, but they took him to the hospital to check him out and because he wasn't feeling so good."
Abdusalamov, 32, was 18-0 with 18 knockouts heading into the encounter with Perez, a fellow undefeated heavyweight. The bout lived up to the billing with both fighters landing some big shots throughout the 10-round slugfest.
It was an extremely valiant effort from Abdusalamov. He was battling several injuries in the latter stages of the fight, including an apparent broken left hand, according to Rafael's report. The Russian came up short on all three scorecards, though, as Perez secured the win late.
Now, the focus shifts to Abdusalamov's health. Nathan Lewkowicz of the boxer's promoter, Sampson Boxing, told ESPN he suffered the hand injury as early as the second round, but the blood clot quickly became a bigger concern after further evaluation.
He was taken to the hospital to make sure he was OK and once he was there they found [the clot]. He thought he broke his left hand in the second round and also thought he had broken his nose at some point in the fight. But the bigger concern once he was at the hospital was the head injury they discovered.
Lewkowicz went on to say the hope is that Abdusalamov will be able to leave the hospital within a couple days, but stopped short of providing a definitive timetable. The fact he was in stable condition on Sunday is a positive sign.
HBO Sports showed the fight and president Ken Hershman released a statement with well wishes for Abdusalamov, as passed along by ESPN:
The thoughts and prayers of all of us at HBO Sports are with Magomed Abdusalamov. We are grateful for the medical care he is receiving here in New York City and out of respect for Magomed and his family, we will wait for any official updates on his condition before making any further statements.
No further updates have been provided about his status at this time.
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment