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Nick Blackwell: A Warrior – Who Needs Prayers not the Boxing World Lobbing Insults, Second Guessing and Arm Chair Bandits with their Conspiracy Theories

Nick-Blackwell-v-Chris-Eubank-JrBy Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Last week I was full of going to the event locally at Bellahouston, Glasgow. It was a big night for me and for Scottish boxing and I shall be taking you all through that in my other column during the week. Saturday night was also the night when Kell Brook, 36-0, 25KO’s was home in Sheffield to defend his IBF welterweight title against Kevin Bizier, 25-3, 17 KO’s. Brook demolished Bizier inside 2 rounds and there was a reaction that it was too easy a fight; which it was.

It was a mandatory and Brook had no choice but to take it even though it was blatantly obvious that Bizier was no match for Brook. Brook is now looking to bigger names and wants to unify the division. Of course though this has been relegated to water cooler discussion in the boxing fraternity after what happened in Kent between Chris Eubank, JR., 22-1, 17 KO’s and Nick Blackwell, 19-4-1, 8 KO’s. The broad story is that Blackwell, the British Champion, went in to the fight against Eubank, JR. as the underdog though he was the champ. Eubank, JR. is ranked number 2 by the WBA and his taking this fight was seen by some as a backward step. Eubank, JR. had held one of the World belts at one point and by defending it, lost it – go figure…

Junior might be a new name in the US but his father – the original Chris Eubank – will certainly be known. Except he does not want to be known as Chris Eubank any more. He changed his name, in homage to his father who loved all things about his adopted country, to English. The Eubank’s have been legendary over here for years as difficult and eccentric. The fact that his son was going to fight for a title – the British title – which his father had never won tells its own story.

The story of the fight is slightly different…

As soon as it was reported that Blackwell had a bleed on his brain and needed to go into a medically induced coma there were people dragging themselves out of the woodwork to give their opinion. And what a lot of intelligent people they proved to be… It was just a pity they were not bright enough to stay in their shadows…

Blackwell is one of the proudest and biggest hearted boxers you could find. He came in at round one and he would still be there now if it were possible. He came forward to take punishment and lost possibly 8 of the first 9 rounds. He was being beaten, but he was still in there looking for that one punch that would have kept his belt.

Around the 7th, English was heard telling his son to ease up off the head shots and go for the body. In the 10th round, due to a cut above his left eye that had swollen to the point that the doctor felt he could no longer carry on, it was all stopped. The fighters were called to the center of the ring. Blackwell stood next to the referee, winked at the ring girl next to him and applauded the guy who beat him. A few minutes later he collapsed.

He was given oxygen, put on a stretcher and taken out the ring to an ambulance that whisked him to the hospital. There they decided to put him into a coma to allow the swelling on his brain to reduce and as I write this, the plan is that he shall be brought out of that coma gradually as he is “improving” according to spokespeople around the family.

So, what did the intelligentsia/ conspiracy theorists on the internet come up with? Let’s start with Eubank’s father telling him to ease off the head. Blackwell had taken some sickening shots; uppercuts that had snapped the guy’s head back. People are making out that English, who had seen a similar thing happen to Michael Watson in his fight with him – ironically Michael Watson was in the crowd for the fight – was seeing what the referee should have seen; Blackwell was in serious trouble. My colleague, Andy Clarke was ringside. He is absolutely sure it was tactical. Blackwell needed to be slown down and the best way to do that was to target the body; hitting the guy’s head was not stopping him.

The suggestion that the referee should have stopped it earlier is equally nonsense as he had a good look at times to ensure that he was giving the working fighters the chance to earn their corn. It was the referee who stepped in to stop it after all. He called the doctor over to ensure he was doing the right thing and Blackwell’s fight came to an abrupt end.

His corner should have stopped it when they realized he was hurt about the 7th they let it continue! Blackwell was too hungry for his own good and would still be going yet if they had let him, they claim. Blackwell should have been protected for his own good. Lucid, clear and determined – not the actions of a man about to collapse? If the corner had the same 20/20 vision as the people who can look back and claim forward second sight, then perhaps they would have thrown in the towel – or even the whole laundry. The thing is, and we have all seen it, the fighter who gets THAT punch in the 12th round, having been beaten up for 11 and winning belts is as legendary and as unfair as boxing is exciting; but it happens. Nick Blackwell needs to feed his family and put down finances for his future – that was what he was doing on that night.

Then we got a minority of idiots who claimed the emergency services were too slow. The reason that British boxing is so well covered medically is due to the injury sustained by Michael Watson who was in the crowd! His multimillion pound lawsuit ensured that paramedics, ambulances and medical attention is focused on the boxers – as it was last Saturday on Nick Blackwell.

After the fight Carl Frampton was on twitter reminding every Troll out there that having a go at boxers because you think they are not good enough or not trying hard enough is just wrong. Every week boxers lay their lives on the line, sometimes for big rewards, mostly for pennies to give us entertainment and thrills. For many it is a way of escaping poverty, redemption from a past and present with the hope of a future and that can come with a cost that most of us are simply unwilling to bear – but they are.

I know that all at Ringside Report have been keeping up with what has been happening with Nick and the prayers, thoughts and well-meaning messages have been appreciated. It just reminds us that life is precious and when people are willing to risk it they do so fully in the knowledge of those risks – that demands and deserves respect. And for that reason this is about respecting Nick Blackwell.

It leaves me a few lines to preview a big fight this weekend. One of the four – YES 4 – boxing brothers from Liverpool, Callum Smith 18-0, 13 KO’s is in a WBC eliminator and Commonwealth super middleweight fight with Hadillah Mohoumadi, 20-3-1, 15 KO’s. You will know Callum’s big brother, Paul, but it is believed that Callum is the best of the 4 – one is already a world champion and Paul fought Arthur Abraham twice – I thought he won the first one – and lost both. A win for Smith sets him up as the mandatory for Badou Jack, 21-1-1, 12 KO’s. It would be a massive fight and nothing like mismatch that we started with between Brook and Bizier. Once Callum has got past Mohoumadi I expect to see him start with Jack and begin cleaning up the division – just remember where you heard that name first…

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