Nick Blackwell condemns 'inhuman and disgusting' Chris Eubank for post-fight comments while he was still in coma
Blackwell was left in a medically-induced coma and stopped breathing due to injuries he suffered in a match with Chris Eubank Jr
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Your support makes all the difference.Nick Blackwell has revealed that if he could deliver “one more knockout shot”, it would be to Chris Eubank after he labelled the former boxer “inhuman and disgusting” for holding a press conference while Blackwell remained in a coma following his match against Chris Eubank Jr.
Blackwell was placed into a medically-induced coma after suffering a bleed on the brain following his middleweight bout with Eubank Jr in March, with the 10th-round stoppage leaving the British boxer bloodied and bruised after taking a barrage of punches to the head. Blackwell collapsed after the fight, before being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.
While Blackwell remained in an induced coma in order to allow swelling on the brain to reduce, Eubank and Eubank Jr held a press conference to pass on their best wishes to his family. Eubank, however, took credit for telling his son to stop punching Blackwell in the head and instead target the body, something that was claimed to be due to the damage Blackwell had suffered but what the boxer himself says was nothing more than a tactical switch.
Speaking to The Sun, Blackwell said: “If I could have one more knockout shot, I'd love to land it on the jaw of Chris Eubank.
“I haven't any hard feelings about the fight because you're in there to win and try and hurt someone, it's just the stuff he has done after. It's inhuman, it's disgusting.
“They want attention, no matter what. My family and friends were begging them not to talk, but they ignored it.”
When asked on Good Morning Britain about Eubank going out partying before he went to see his injured opponent, Blackwell added: "I was just a little disappointed. If Eubank was in that situation and he was in a coma I would want to go and see him.
"The whole thing with the press conference, my family had begged them not to do it and they still went ahead."
However, Blackwell added in his interview on Good Morning Britain that he didn’t remember saying the line about knocking out Eubank, and when asked if he would do it, his reply was a simple “no”.
I haven't got anything against him as a fighter. But as a person, some of the things he has said and done, personally I wouldn't have done
The Eubanks held the press conference three days after the 26th March bout, and while Blackwell admitted he has nothing against Eubank Jr for hurting him given the dangers of boxing, he was slightly less impressed with what was said in the wake of the fight while Blackwell remained in a coma.
"I haven't got anything against him as a fighter, I think he's a really good fighter. But as a person, some of the things he has said and done, personally I wouldn't have done.
"Anyone in boxing knows it was more of a tactical thing. He couldn't stop me to the head so he wanted to hit me to the body to try and get rid of me."
Blackwell also explained in detail the events that led to him being “medically technically dead” after he stopped breathing in the ambulance.
“When I woke up it put everything in perspective of how lucky I was and the recovery has been quick,” said Blackwell.
“I couldn’t remember anything about the fight. I could remember being in the changing rooms walking out, but the whole fight I can’t remember anything. A complete blur.
"I only got told when I woke up. The doctor, I want to say thank you because he saved my life. He got me into the ambulance, induced me into a coma [within] 13 and a half minutes of being in the ring and I passed out into the ambulance, and yeah I did, I flat-lined so I died for a little while and he injected adrenaline into my heart and I started breathing again and from then on I was obviously in a coma.
Eubank responded to the interview in The Sun, with the 49-year-old former WBO middleweight and super-middleweight world champion telling Good Morning Britain: "Public/media pressure was so huge we felt we had to hold the press conference. It was done with the full knowledge of the Boxing Board of Control. Nick is a wonderful man and gentleman and warrior."
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