Boxing Lessons Learned from the Death of “Iron” Mike Towell

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

It is now a few weeks since the untimely death of “Iron” Mike Towell, 11-1-1, 8 KO’s. It is perhaps time to take a moment and reflect on what the community of boxing needs to learn from this specific tragedy.

It does mean that perhaps we need to tread upon toes that remain tender but this is not a community that shirks a battle nor hides from the awful reality in which it may find itself.

Following a fight in Glasgow, Dundee boxer, partner of Chloe, son of Tracey and father of Rocco was stopped in the 5th round of his final British title eliminator. Stretchered from the ring he was accompanied to a Glasgow hospital where he was found to have bleeding on his brain that proved fatal. Those are the facts.

As soon as he was pronounced dead the boxing community rallied and, begun with a £5,000 donation from former World Champion Ricky Hatton, an internet fundraising campaign was underway. It led to over £46,000 being raised for the family. Newly crowned world champion Nathan Cleverly gave his respect verbally from the side of the German ring in which he won his second world title. Tony Bellew wore a t-shirt, before beating BJ Flores, with Towell’s image and name on it. Ten bells were sounded and heads bowed throughout the world as we remembered a guy we hardly knew but recognized his sacrifice as a very real one that every boxer who gets in a ring faces with bravery.

In Dundee, we now have a mural to celebrate the life that was taken so young. Mike has followed his father in dying young as he died at the tender age of 38 in Thailand of a blood clot. I mentioned earlier the close family that Mike was a part of and it was so close that he lived a couple of doors down from his mother, a mum who brought him up single handily after the death of his father and was then left to tragically bury him.
From the facts, to the reaction which was raw to now some of the revelations.

18 days before the fight Towell had been complaining of feeling unwell. He had stopped sparring because of this, but eschewed any form of medical treatment as he was sure it was just a minor thing. Like many boxers it would be an inconvenience rather than a warning sign; tragically it was an early indication of what was about to follow.

Mike ended up doubled up on the floor of a hospital accident and emergency department begging for something for the pain. He was clear, he needed a brain scan – he needed this looked at. The severity of his headaches that he never returned to sparring before the fight. He was in absolute agony, begging for help.

The hospital refused anything stronger than pain relief, telling him it was a migraine and that the symptoms would lift. They refused a scan on the basis that they couldn’t just offer one to anyone who walked in the door and asked for one. The family are raising this as an issue with their local hospital. It might not go as far as suing the hospital or the operators – NHS Tayside – but it will raise temperatures, eyebrows and many questions.

The British Boxing Board of Control have been very reserved over this. Their checks and balances will come under close scrutiny, as they should, because they should, as they are meant to maintain regular check-ups before any fight. We know that Towell took the risk and decided not to inform anyone about his headaches; but his partner and family knew as they had seen him doubled up on a hospital floor.

It is simply nonsensical to expect family members to step in and take the responsibility of the fighter when it comes to their own health. I know that “the warrior code” as some Eubank’s might have it would mean no matter what the risk, you fight on. Evidently that is ridiculous. The idea though that adults are unable to take responsibility for their own actions is as ridiculous as “The Warrior Code”. Mike Towell took the risk. Many other boxers will have taken the risk before him and I will put money on others have after him. The question for me has nothing to do with the risk, but the responsibility.

If a boxer refuses to come clean, then they should accept responsibility is on their shoulders. The fact that the Board nor his family stopped him boxing is irrelevant. What is relevant is that boxers must be held accountable for their actions prior to going into the ring. I do not hold with this boxers are their biggest critics and worst enemies as they will just go and fight, no matter the risk. That cements the idea that they are stupid. It continues this belief they are big lumps without intelligence; many are highly bright and know what they risk. Going into any fight with the distinct possibility you will die because of your participation is no – absolutely, no – indication of intelligence – quite the reverse.

What is in the gift of the Board and all boxing authorities is the rehydration and dehydration that comes with making weight. Towell was dehydrated in the ring and this increases the risk of a fatal outcome. The brain is vulnerable and the consequences can come in a coffin. Weigh ins and fighting weights need sorted now.

We also need to look at how boxers are funded – promotors and managers need to take note. It has been reported that Towell had thought about pulling out the contest due to these health issues, but did not want to let down his sponsors. This was a televised bout and many sponsors give money in the early part of a boxer’s careers with little by way of return until their chosen fighter makes it to the big time. This was Towell’s chance to give back and he did not want to let them down. Towell’s sponsors had additionally given him the cash to allow him 10 weeks off his job in construction to prepare for the biggest fight in his career.

It was with my heart in my mouth this week that I read that the devastation felt by the family is so severe that Mike’s mum, Tracey, has consulted a spiritualist as she is so bereft. At least she was able to find comfort in the words from her consultation that he was now with his dad. The world of boxing need more earthly consideration to learn and now I hope there are those in authority thinking, talking and making plans to change things like they did when Michael Watson nearly lost his life in the ring.

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