Trainer banned for allowing brain-bleed Blackwell sparring session
>> LONDON: Trainer Liam Wilkins’ licence has been taken away from him for allowing the unauthorised sparring session last November that resulted in former British middleweight champion Nick Blackwell being taken to hospital.
Blackwell, 26, had retained a trainer’s licence but been forbidden from sparring after he retired from boxing having suffered a bleed on the brain following a defeat by compatriot Chris Eubank Jnr last March.
Although he recovered he was advised not to get back into the ring even in sparring sessions.
However, the temptation proved too much and yet again he underwent surgery to reduce swelling on the brain.
A relative of Blackwell’s told the BBC he was unable to walk and at least a year away from recovering fully.
The sport’s domestic governing body the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) took a dim view of the other two parties involved in the session and in withdrawing Wilkins’ licence said his conduct had been ‘detrimental to the interests of boxing’.
Blackwell’s sparring partner Hasan Karkardi received a sixmonth suspension.
Robert Smith, the BBBC secretary, had expressed his incredulity at Blackwell’s behaviour when it first emerged in November.
“He made a remarkable recovery and for somebody to go and do what he’s done, for what I thought was a very sensible young man, is just beyond belief.”
Announcing his retirement in April, Blackwell had said: “I can’t put my friends and family and self through that again, but I’ll still be involved [in the sport].”