Rebel’s Russian opponent placed in coma
Heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov of Russia, who lost a 10-round unanimous, was placed in a medically induced coma on Sunday following brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
The Russian is reported to be in stable condition in intensive care at Roosevelt Hospital in New York.
Abdusalamov, who went into the fight with an unbeaten record of 18 victories, all knockouts, arrived at the hospital suffering an suspected broken left hand and nose.
“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,” said Nathan Lewkowicz, vice president of his father Sampson Lewkowicz’s promotional company, Sampson Boxing.
“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. He was taken to the hospital to make sure he was ok and once he was there they found [the clot],” he said.
“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.”
As the fight developed, Abdusalamov’s face started to swell.
“Hopefully, ‘Mago’ will be out of the hospital in a couple of days,” Lewkowicz added. “He took a lot of shots to the head. His left hand is his power hand and once he broke it, he kept throwing with the right hand, but he wasn’t the same.”
HBO, who televised the fight, released a statement through Sports President Ken Hershman yesterday sending the heavyweight fighter best wishes from the network.
“The thoughts and prayers of all of us at HBO Sports are with Magomed Abdusalamov,” Hershman said. “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.”
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