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Magomed Abdusalamov career over - Michael Woods

  • (December 18, 2013)

The neurosurgeon attending to heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov, who sustained life-threatening injuries in a Nov. 2 bout at Madison Square Garden Theater, has told ESPNNewYork.com that the Russian-born boxer will not fight again despite his condition improving. "He's going to get better, I'm confident," Dr. Rupendra Swarup, Director, Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals, said Wednesday, "but he will not be the same. He's going to have neurological deficits." Abdusalamov, who was put in a medically induced coma following brain surgery to remove a blood clot suffered the night of the bout, is no longer comatose, can open his eyes and can breathe on his own. The 32-year-old, known as "Mago," was hurt in a 10-round faceoff with Mike Perez in a clash of heavyweight prospects vying to rise to contender status. Abdusalamov will be taken from Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan to a rehabilitation facility in New Jersey as early as Thursday. "When the patient came in, he was almost dead," said Swarup. "From that point of view, he's come a very long way."
-Dr. Rupendra Swarup, Director, Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals
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