It's nothing to do with practices and investigations being better now - Mclellan's brain injury was noticed at the time and DKP colluded with his manager to hide it from the authorities. That's off topic, whether he wants to fight or not doesn't diminish the fact that, as a human being, you surely must be concerned if he gets seriously hurt. Or would you just say "he knew the risks, what a warrior" and forget about it? That sort of attitude makes it very hard to defend boxing. Enzo is spent, he's been brutally knocked out by a relatively light puncher in Afolabi and demolished by Lebedev in two successive fights. His punch resistance is gone - he's absorbing more shots, taking more damage and, at the tail end of his 20s, is less capable of recovering from it. No one should be supporting this crazy plan - if he gets in the ring with an Adamek or similar, he could be seriously hurt. Do you not understand that?
I'm just speculating, but every time I've seen people get seriously injured in the ring, like Watson and Mclellan, it happened because they took a sustained beating over a number of hard fought rounds. Enzo Mac is far too chinny for that to actually occur, in his case. That's probably why those MMA types rarely get serious injuries, as thier light gloves lead to quick knock outs and they don't take sustained punishments. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Mate it's not tiddlywinks, of course there is the chance he could become "seriously hurt" as there is in the majority of pyhsical sports but if there is no neurological disorder then there is no reason he can't fight. Enzo obviously thinks he is up to the challenge and has something to prove or he would have no other reason to fight on (I can't imagine he will receive a massive purse for his next fight). Are you honestly suggesting that the fight should be cancelled when there is no medical evidence to support it, depriving him of the chance to prove his critics wrong?? Or do you have more evidence to back up your "cottonwool" theory??
Evidence: - beaten by brutal KO in his last two fights, lost 3 of his last 4 by KO, and has only beaten a domestic fighter inbetween - admitted he felt he couldn't get his punches off and they had no power in them - unwilling to pull the trigger and commit to attacks - marked up incredibly quickly against Lebedev - seriously troubled by even glancing blows and unable to get his legs back under him - slurring his speech - still thinks the only reasons he lost to Haye was that he made a big mistake and that that mistake was not simply getting in the ring with a far superior opponent If he wants to fight, of course he can - but at some point the fans and the media, as well as the BBBoC, have to look at him and go: you're going to get seriously hurt. He's been beaten senseless in three of his last four fights and the only win was against a low level domestic HW. And you think he should keep fighting?
I agree with all of that, fully. But then there is that old chestnut - unlicensed boxing. Given that I don't know the guy (obviously), I have no idea as to his psyche, would he accept a 'no' vote from the board and move on, do something else, or would he simply do the above? Not that the board have a legal responsibility for him in such circumstances of course, but a 'moral' one in a way? Someone close to him needs to tell him to pack in, that he doesn't have anything to prove and so on.
Absolutely... I definitely think he should fight on. He has lost a few fights ffs you are going well overboard on this. He can be trained to have a tighter defence and be a more conservative boxer. He is 29, he could have another 5 years if gets himself together and has his confidence rebuilt. ... and I said medical evidence! you're well off with the 'slurring speech' that's just his accent
Im guessing a soft touch to get a bit of confidence back. Then he needs to fight a bit more often slowly building back up the level of opposition. I think his punch resistence has gone though, the first big punch he gets caught with seems to hurt him now, so i cant see him going past Euro level if that. The Lebedev fight was painfull to watch live as Enzo's one of my favourite fighters.
i think if he wants to keep boxing he needs to fight some brit or commonwealth up and comers and get some confidence back,then step it back up to world level again if successful there
It's tempting to think that he could easily compete against most British fighters at Cruiser - and getting him some. Latvibum would get his confidence back and start a winning run. Trouble is if he does knock out a couple of overmatched fighters he's going to be calling for bigger fights cos he's not going to make any money fighting fighters who are brought over to lose. At that point and level he's getting seriously hurt yet again so really, what's the best that can happen for Enzo by fighting on? Use your head and pack it in son.