Brain scanners to be located at the ringside

MOVES to introduce infrared scanners which can detect brain bleeds at boxing matches have been welcomed by the girlfriend of tragic Dundee fighter Mike Towell.

“Iron Mike”, 25, died after collapsing during a fight in Glasgow in September.

The Dundee father had previously complained of pains in his head and had asked for a brain scan three times.

However, doctors had advised him it was a migraine.

The British and Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA) will introduce new scanners at fights from the end of this month.

The £12,000 devices were used by the Russian boxing team at the Olympic Games in Rio and can spot possible brain trauma at an early stage.

It is hoped they will prevent boxers from sustaining permanent brain damage.

The devices can detect damage during t he socalled “golden hour” — the 60 minutes after a head injury where pre-hospital assessment is critical to the f uture neurological health of a patient.

Mike’s girlfriend, Chloe Ross, who i s also t he mother of his young son, said she was pleased by the news.

Posting on Facebook she said: “I’m glad to be finally seeing something good coming from what happened to Michael.

“I do think it shouldn’t take someone’s life for these things to be used but if it saves someone else’s life then that can only be a good thing.”

BIBA, a relatively new b ox i n g a u t h o r i t y, w i l l become the first to introduce the device.

It is hoped the sport’s long-standing governing body, the British Boxing Board of Control, will follow in its footsteps.