Report: Magomed Abdusalamov showing improvement, could be awakened this weekend

Heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov remains in a medically-induced coma in a New York hospital, but Nathan Lewkowicz, the son of promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, tells RingTV.com's Lem Satterfield that the fighter has made a remarkable turn in recent days, and could be awakened as early as this weekend.

"We heard some good news from the doctors that they believe Mago will survive this and will try to wake him up from the coma hopefully by this weekend, probably in about two or three days. It's like a 180-degree turn. It's a miracle that, it seemed, a week ago that he was going to die. ... Basically, the chance of survival is about 100 percent where the same doctors, a week ago, were saying that he wasn't going to make it. They did a reflex test on him today and he showed some movement in his arms, so that's something that they weren't expecting to see, so that's a huge, huge step in the right direction."

Abdusalamov, 32, went toe-to-toe with Mike Perez for 10 grueling rounds on November 2 in an HBO-televised war that was counted immediately by many as the best heavyweight fight of 2013. The punishment taken on both sides was pretty heavy, but Abdusalamov got the worst of it, and one of the cold realities of boxing reared its ugly head once more.

His career is over, or at least it very well should be, but cross your fingers and send your best wishes to Magomed, as it appears now that he's going to come out of this alive. As boxing fans, we were basically given everything by this fighter in one night.