Nick Blackwell also had headaches before Eubank Jnr - Calls for pre fight brain scans

Such a simple thing to introduce and will definitely save fighters lives

The 25-year-old said: “I think the Boxing Board of Control has to do something because I went into my fight with headaches, the same as Mike.
“I think boxers need to have a brain scan a week-and-a-half before a fight and a ban on sparring two weeks before because we’re our own worst enemies. We’re fighters – we’re not going to pull out.
“We go in there and make out everything’s fine. If you’ve already got a bleed there then look what happened to Mike.
“It’s stupid. I did the same as him. Just over a week before my fight, I had a 15-round spar and he hit me with some massive shots.
“I got out after and I couldn’t remember what happened in the spar.
“I woke up the next morning and I felt bad. I was ill for three days with no energy and I just felt weird but I kept it to myself.
“I just thought I was nervous about making weight. I didn’t feel right going into that fight with Eubank.

Full Interview
Nick Blackwell calls for brain scans ahead of boxing fights after Mike Towell tragedy - Daily Record

This is why it worries me when our own @Tam Seddon has issues and tries to box.

In an ideal world everyone would have a scan before every fight, but it's not going to happen. Currently a fighter is required to have an MRI once per year for licensing. They should up it to 2, or 4, reduce the window a bit. A private MRI would cost around about 350 quid, for some week in week out merchants, that'd mean next to no dough to take home.

Actually can anyone recall a time when journeyman who fights every five minutes got injured upstairs?

With no disrespect intended, I read the words of Nick Blackwell and the words of Mike Towells Mrs and I thought you idiots. Its no good asking for external parties to look after you a bit better, if you refuse to look after yourself. It's like the fat cunt having a go at McDonalds for making him fat.

No need for private scans mate, this handheld device has been used by the US military on the battlefield since 2008 and been looked into for a few years by NFL teams.

This should be mandatory and paid for by the British Boxing Board and present at every weigh in.

I don't for a second believe that the BBB can't afford to invest in these handheld devices (which will detect a brain bleed within a matter of minutes) - not having that at all ;)

After the Blackwell v Eubank Jnr fight i read a brilliant interview with a top Neurosurgeon who clearly stated that 90-95% of brain injury fighters suffer happens in Sparring and not the actual fight so the damage is clearly already done well before the fighter get's in the ring.

It'd be interesting to know just how many fighters actually go into fights with brain injuries but are totally unaware they are playing Russian Roulette with their lives.

I've posted this link before

Use of the InfraScanner(TM) can help determine if an athlete needs to be transported to receive a CT scan and neurosurgical intervention or can be kept under observation and avoid exposure to the dangers of radiation. The system was developed for use by the U.S. Marine Corps and has been battlefield tested since 2008.
"Without this technology, emergency responders have to rely on imprecise methods to detect brain bleeds, which can delay treatment," said Dr. Joseph Maroon, team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers and MedLogic Medical Advisory Board member. "Its use can limit repeated access to cancer causing radiation from CT scans and has the potential to save lives by quickly detecting life-threatening brain bleeds. It has enormous implications for sports health professionals."

MedLogic's Innovative New Technology Offers Real Solutions for Athletes with Brain Injuries - MarketWatch

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Originally Posted by Memphis

In an ideal world everyone would have a scan before every fight, but it's not going to happen. Currently a fighter is required to have an MRI once per year for licensing. They should up it to 2, or 4, reduce the window a bit. A private MRI would cost around about 350 quid, for some week in week out merchants, that'd mean next to no dough to take home.

Actually can anyone recall a time when journeyman who fights every five minutes got injured upstairs?

With no disrespect intended, I read the words of Nick Blackwell and the words of Mike Towells Mrs and I thought you idiots. Its no good asking for external parties to look after you a bit better, if you refuse to look after yourself. It's like the fat cunt having a go at McDonalds for making him fat.

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I agree and and not meaning it to sound harsh either but if my son or fighter if i was a trainer was telling me they had bad headaches before a fight theres no fucking way i'd stick him in there. I mean it's the main target area for the opponent and is obviously gonna get hit hard and often :-\

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind though that with all the millions of pounds/dollars in the fight game today more can't be done to protect the fighters.

I reckon fighters these days on the whole hit harder and are fitter than fighters of old too with better scientific training methods and conditioning and better diets and lifestyles which maybe is the reason this seems to be happening more often than it used to ;)

I was listening to a podcast last week, the fighters were in agreement that if they pulled out everytime they have headache/niggles they'd never fight. They seemed to dismiss it as common

The fighters won't have anything to do with a decision on it at all mate.

The device im on about was used by the Russian Olympic boxing team this summer so it's already in use and being backed by the likes of McGuigan ;)

I've been banging on about this for ages and i do think it needs to and will be introduced into Boxing.

Boxing authorities are evaluating a new handheld brain scanner that could be used by ringside doctors, Sky News understands.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) is closely monitoring trials of the device being carried out by the London Air Ambulance, according to sources.
The scanner can detect brain bleeds with an accuracy of 90%, often before any symptoms such as headaches or confusion become apparent.
The authorities are under pressure to take every possible measure to improve safety following the death last month of Mike Towell.

Sky News Video Here
Handheld scanners could detect brain bleeds and save boxers' lives

I remember hearing that some folks who believed that Gerald McClellan was injured from hard sparring going into the fight with Nigel Benn.


It's not beyond the realm of possibility especially if you are sparring a lot...head gear and bigger gloves don't protect the brain. The brain just sloshes around in your skull regardless of headgear or mouthpieces or poofy gloves. No real way to stabilize it and keep it from getting rocked around like a brick in a clothes dryer

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Originally Posted by El Kabong

I remember hearing that some folks who believed that Gerald McClellan was injured from hard sparring going into the fight with Nigel Benn.


It's not beyond the realm of possibility especially if you are sparring a lot...head gear and bigger gloves don't protect the brain. The brain just sloshes around in your skull regardless of headgear or mouthpieces or poofy gloves. No real way to stabilize it and keep it from getting rocked around like a brick in a clothes dryer

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Very true and it's been proven by neurosurgeons that most damage is done in sparring, i mean ask yourself if you had son who boxed would you rather these devices were used prior to the fight or not used at all?

Im sure everyone on this forum would want them used

McClellan was apparently experiencing all the symptoms that both Blackwell and Towell were experiencing. Intense, prolonged headaches, dizzy spells. The blinking and hanging the mouth guard out started before the fight with Benn.

There has to be a distinction between par for the course symptoms following a tough spar or lead up to a fight, and persistent issues that cause you to lose your memory, blink repeatedly, hang your mouth guard out of your gob.

Master mentioned Tam and the white collar stuff he was doing. Tam can correct me on this but if memory serves, his problems resulted ironically from trying to be more 'professional' and squeezing himself down in weight to a place where he perhaps didn't belong.

I was waiting for Tam to respond. Come on @Tam Seddon

This is as simple as running the device over a fighters head which takes 2-3 minutes before he fights, if there's a bleed he doesn't fight if there isn't he does fight.

And yeah where is Tam..?

I know he was booked to fight on my mate Scotts card over in Malta but had some kind of seizure before it started, has he been on since then?

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Originally Posted by smashup

This is as simple as running the device over a fighters head which takes 2-3 minutes before he fights, if there's a bleed he doesn't fight if there isn't he does fight.

And yeah where is Tam..?

I know he was booked to fight on my mate Scotts card over in Malta but had some kind of seizure before it started, has he been on since then?

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Yes he has and is OK and well but not fought just training.

Slightly off topic, but I remember reading years ago that fighters below the HW division would really dry out to make weight and then rehydrate on average 10-15 pounds before stepping into the ring. The article mentioned that by severely dehydrating and rehydrating like this, the brain isn't fully rehydrated yet and it's actually pretty dangerous and can cause numerous problems, just for a size advantage on fight night. Maybe some of the problems lies in that too?

Come to think of it, I don't even remember if a HW has ever died in boxing since I've been following the sport, it's usually the divisions below it.

yes eubank jr has that affect on most people

Ill clarify here what fully happened to me in Malta, something I'm not too happy about but it's the truth. My job is I'm a doorman and I am use to working the night shifts. I had been in a routine of staying awake late at the weekends and staying up late and when I got home I was finding it difficult to sleep straight away. I don't smoke cannabis and I had occasionally been taking diazpiams to help me sleep. I had them prescribed off my doctor before I went to malta because I knew I would struggle to sleep with the nerves of the fight. Because I have struggled to sleep the night before in fights previous to this one. So I had three diazpam and I still didn't sleep. I was obviously stressed because I'd been cutting a lot of weight and was boxing abroad and was nervous. So just before I entered the ring I had the fit, this was a bad reaction off being stressed and having diazpiam and not achieving sleep off them.

I'm not a sleeping pill junky or anything lol nobody has to worry I've only had them over a brief period of time. But I've obviously not taken them since that happened. I had no idea that diazpiam was the cause of what happened until recently. I've had multiple brain scans and there's nothing wrong, it's just those sleeping tablets are not to be messed around with.

But I'm in fine health now and training hard as I use to, I'm still not competing yet but I'll be back doing the ABA boxing in November/December.