Colorado boxing fans may have been aware of two previously undefeated boxers that squared off in New York late last year. Mike Perez took a 19-0 record into the fight, and Magomed Abdusalamov had compiled a previous 18-0 record. On Nov. 2, the heavyweight boxing match at Madison Square Garden between Perez and Abdusalamov was brutal. Abdusalamov had won all 18 of his previous fights in five rounds or less, but he lost a unanimous 10-round decision in this instance.
After the fight, Abdusalamov was treated for a variety of injuries, including a broken nose. When blood was detected in a urine sample by a state boxing commission inspector assigned to the match, he told doctors of this, but nothing was done at first. Ultimately, the boxer was taken to a hospital where he had emergency brain surgery for a blood clot hours after the match. State-paid physicians assigned to the fight had initially failed to detect the condition. The delay in treatment allegedly sent him into a coma.
The man did eventually come out of the coma, but he is now confined to a rehabilitation facility. He has only limited physical movement, and he remains bedridden. Doctors do not believe that he will ever walk or talk again. Now, the family of the boxer from the Russian republic of Dagestan has filed documents that provide notification that there is an intent on their part to file a $100 million lawsuit against the state of New York and its boxing commission.
Although New York laws limit boxing commission liability in matches, the attorney for the family of the Russian boxer still asserts that negligent conduct on the part of the state-paid physicians led directly to the permanent brain damage that Abdusalamov has suffered. Although surgical error is not claimed here, medical malpractice is, because doctors cleared the boxer after the fight even though his brain was bleeding.
Source: ABC, “Injured boxer’s family plans lawsuit“, William Weinbaum, John Barr, February 21, 2014