Boxing safety in spotlight after fighter who hid headaches dies
BOXING came under renewed pressure to introduce radical changes to the sport last night after a boxer died of brain injuries following a fight in Glasgow on Thursday night.
Mike Towell, 25, suffered severe bleeding and swelling to his brain during a British welterweight title eliminator fight against Dale Evans at the Radisson Blu hotel.
He is only the third professional boxer to die in the UK from apparently fight-related injuries in the past 21 years but his death has led to renewed calls for an outright ban on the sport, or at the very least for blows to the head to be barred.
Paul Flynn, the veteran Labour MP and shadow leader of the House, said: “We ought to change the rules in many sports and realise that the head is a very delicate part of the body and to protect it, and minimise the number of blows the brain suffers.”
He said the “worst example is boxing”, adding: “The whole purpose of the sport is to render the opponent unconscious.”
Mr Flynn tried and failed to get blows to the head banned in boxing through two private members’ Bills in 1998 and 2005.
Dr Otmar Kloiber, the secretary-general for the World Medical Association, urged reform, saying that “boxing is producing or can produce serious harm”. He said: “It is very clear that the concussions you get from that damage to the brain all the time alters brain function and can also lead to immediately serious conditions.”
It has emerged that Towell, from Dundee, failed to inform his manager he was suffering from severe headaches in the run-up to the bout.
There are concerns that he may have felt under pressure not to tell his coaching staff for fear of being prevented from taking part in what would have been a crucial fight in his career.
Shortly after his death Towell’s partner, Chloe Ross, disclosed that he had been suffering from headaches.
A spokesman for Towell’s management team said they were not aware of any problems, prompting suggestions the boxer kept the truth of his condition from them. He died at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on Friday night, 12 hours after being taken off a life-support machine.
Ms Ross, who had a young son with Towell, wrote on her Facebook page: “I’m absolutely heartbroken to say my annoying best friend passed away tonight [Friday] at 11.02 very peacefully.
“Michael had severe bleeding and swelling to his brain. He had been complaining of headaches for the last few weeks but we put it down to migraines with the stress of his fight.”
The boxer’s family were at his bedside during his final hours with his manager, Tommy Gilmour.
A boxing source said: “Gilmour is a very experienced manager and there’s no doubt that if Mike Towell had told him he was having headaches Tommy would not have let the lad fight.
“It was an important bout for him and he may have deliberately kept it hidden from his team. That may have resulted in what is a tragic outcome.”
Fans rushed to donate money to help Towell’s partner and baby. Ricky Hatton, the former light-welterweight and welterweight world champion, launched an online fund with £5,000. Sport: Page 1