Injured boxer Ingle walking with aid

Boxer Paul Ingle has taken his first faltering steps since suffering life-threatening injuries during a world title fight.

The 28-year-old, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, had emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain after losing his IBF featherweight bout with South Africa's Mbulelo Botile at the Sheffield Arena on December 16.

Consultant neurosurgeon Robert Battersby, who carried out the two-and-a-half hour operation at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said: "Three weeks down the line he is making remarkable progress.

"He's sitting up in bed, looking around, talking - and is walking with help. He knows about the past but has difficulty with the present and future - to predict how he's going to be two years from now is very difficult."

The surgeon said it was hoped to move the fighter, nicknamed the Yorkshire Hunter, out of intensive care and on to a normal ward within the next 48 hours.

He said it could be 10 days before he was well enough to be transferred to a hospital nearer his North Yorkshire home, if a place in a suitable rehabilitation unit could be found.

"He's not really fit enough yet to be transferred. He's got one or two metabolic problems which are being investigated. His family are bearing up well, although they are perhaps frustrated that he's not making dramatic strides any more."

Ingle's fiancee, Samantha Coulson, who shares a house with the fighter in Scarborough, and his family have maintained a regular vigil by his bedside.

Trainer Steve Pollard said Ingle had lost none of his fighting spirit and is already swearing.

He said: "I don't know what his first words were but I have heard him swearing. He's doing very well, his memory is still there. He recognises people, knows what belts he's won and can recall the telephone codes for Hull and Scarborough. All we do now is hope he makes a full recovery."