Nick Blackwell hospitalized after recent sparring session

In some rather disappointing, and quite frankly a little inexplicable news, former boxer Nick Blackwell was hospitalized over the weekend after he became ill following a recent sparring session. Blackwell had retired from the sport several months ago after he sustained a serious brain injury against Chris Eubank Jr. that forced him to be put in a medically induced coma.

Things looked rather dire for Blackwell at one point but he was able to recover and publicly acknowledged that he would no longer fight. Blackwell had his boxing license removed by the British Boxing Board of Control because of his serious medical issue, but still maintained a trainers license and expressed interest in remaining involved in the sport in some capacity.

Some how, some way, that lead Blackwell into a sparring session last week, which Board Secretary Robert Smith called a "very silly" decision on Blackwell’s behalf. After sparring, Blackwell’s condition deteriorated to the point where he had to go to the hospital and undergo another surgical procedure. Speaking on the incident Smith said:

"I'm sickened by it. It's a very tough sport and the doctors here did a wonderful job to save his life. The doctors at hospital saved his life and kept him going.

"He made remarkable recovery and for somebody to go and do what he's done, for what I thought was a very sensible young man, is just beyond belief."

At this point we can only help that this bad news doesn’t spell disaster for Blackwell and his family. We certainly wish him well but he has no reason to put himself in position to take anymore punches.