It always hits home much harder when you see footage of a fighter in distress who's suffered a serious brain injury and I found that really hard to watch last night and it's really upsetting waking up to the awful news that he was in surgery for 2 hours and they had to remove part of his skull due to severe swelling off the brain. Obviously I feel really bad for him but I can't imagine how horrific and traumatic this is for his poor wife and family and my thoughts and prayers are with them. Dadashev might have been on his bicycle for most of the fight but Matias just seemed the bigger and physically stronger fighter and he's absolutely relentless and just looks an absolute nightmare to keep off of you. Dadashev was really struggling to stay afloat in there and not be overwhelmed by Matias relentless pressure and I thought he displayed an awful lot of physical and mental fortitude to last as long as he did and he really bit down on his gum shield in those final few rounds and desperately tried to turn it around even though he'd been greatly weakened by the amount of punishment he'd been subjected to by that point.
At some point, it's worth it. However, it does make you wonder if going out on your shield is worth giving your life. It's an interesting paradox right? We don't respect you if you quit but we feel God awfully bad when something like this happens. But then again, boxing is a sport where all participants know and assume all the risks, including being maimed and dying. It's sad but true. Let's just pray for full recovery.
According to Klimas, he has a chance to get back to normal life. His boxing career is over, for sure.