Why Was a Brain-Damaged Fighter Allowed to Leave Madison Square Garden on His Own?
Undercard boxing matches between no-name fighters don’t usually get much attention. But a bout on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden (broadcast on HBO) pitting a Cuban-born fighter against one from the former Soviet republic of Dagestan has shocked the boxing world. As one of the more brutal and exciting heavyweight fights in recent memory, it blew up on Twitter while it was happening. But in the days since, the bout has taken on the full proportions of a public tragedy, with the Dagestani boxer now in a coma at St. Luke’s Hospital and his family wondering why state boxing officials let the severely injured athlete walk out of the arena under his own power.
Magomed Abdusalamov was a bloody mess after ten punishing rounds against the faster, more skillful Cuban fighter. On Twitter, users remarked — even joked — about the grotesque swelling in his face, comparing it, for example, to "a fiery six-car pileup on the highway. Ugly, terrible, tragic yet you can't look away," or suggesting that the Dagestani was "starting to look like dude off Goonies." Despite the stomach-churning damage he endured, Abdusalamov never quit fighting or trying to win. In the end, he finished the bout on his feet, losing by unanimous decision. He arrived at the hospital later that night in a cab and collapsed waiting to see a doctor in the ER. Now he’s about to begin the fifth day of a medically induced coma, shifting between “critical” and “stable” conditions. Abdusalamov’s wife, three young daughters, other family members, and supporters have been holding a vigil in the ICU, waiting for him to wake from his coma, wondering how the boxing officials and the medical staff at the fight could have failed him so miserably.
After the fight, Abdusalamov waited for medical treatment in the dressing room. According to his manager, Boris Grinberg, two doctors inspected Abdusalamov at different times. One collected urine samples to test for drugs. The other looked the fighter over. “He says, 'Count one, two, three, four, five …,' and then he tells him to make sure he goes to hospital tomorrow because his nose might be broken,” Grinberg says. “They give him no attention! No ambulance!”
Abdusalamov walked outside the Garden just like the fans that paid to watch him fight. On the street corner, he started to vomit, Grinberg says. He then walked out to the street and, with the help of Grinberg’s son and passersby, managed to hail a taxi. The closest emergency room was St. Luke’s, nearly 30 blocks north through slow Saturday-night traffic. In the emergency room, Abdusalamov struggled to get attention. Grinberg was there, trying to get the emergency-room nurses to admit him. Abdusalamov started to vomit again. Then he passed out.
rest of story, he's in induced coma at Saint Lukes where the taxi dropped him off. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/11/brain-damaged-fighter-walked-out-of-msg.html?test=true
= new reply since forum marked as read
