In the aftermath of Oleksandr Gvozdyk’s successful title defense against challenger Doudou Ngumbu last weekend — a fight where a non-contact injury in the fifth round forced a stoppage — ESPN has revealed that Ngumbu actually suffered a torn ligament in his right calf which prompted his TKO loss (not that Ngumbu was on track to win anyway).
Greg Sirb of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission say they now have Ngumbu on a medical suspension, which is pretty typical in these types of situations.
“We have him on ‘indefinite medical suspension’ pending clearance of calf muscle and Achilles heel,” Sirb said. “I’ve seen guys twist their ankles real bad, but I’ve never seen a torn ligament like that.
”He was in the hospital for a couple of hours, they fitted him some type of boot,” added Sirb, who says that Ngumbu has since flown back to France.
Sirb also mentions that he didn’t take issue with the referee calling a timeout to give Ngumbu a shot a recovering from the then undiagnosed ailment, saying that nobody wants to see a fight end that way. And while that may be true, it was a pretty strange situation as you’re not allowed a timeout just because you may have hurt yourself — particularly without any foul having been committed. But, whatever, I doubt many will kick up a storm over it