THE father of a boxer who was seriously injured in the ring has called for a new debate on safety following the death of Scots professional Mike Towell.
John Flaherty has helped his son Daniel back on his feet for the past year after he suffered a devastating head injury in an amateur bout.
But the loss of professional boxer Mike Towell on Friday – from exactly the same kind of brain bleeding as his son suffered – has strengthened Mr Flaherty’s resolve to campaign for change.
Daniel was just 24 when he was hurt competing to become Scotland’s novice champion last October.
Mr Flaherty, from Stirling, said: “We very nearly lost him. He has had to fight for his life and has lost a piece of his skull.
“He has had a metal plate put in and has not worked since the fight.
“Daniel suffered the same brain bleeding as Mike Towell and was treated in the same hospital.
“But for the grace of God and the hard work of doctors and nurses we would have lost him too.”
Boxing promoters have insisted that the injuries suffered by Mr Towell, who was 25, and had been complaining of headaches before his fight, are very rare.
But Mr Flaherty said: “They say these things don’t happen very often but I just want to let anybody about to get in to a ring know that they do happen.
“There has not been a proper debate about things like headguards and gloves and ways to make the sport safer.
“I know it sounds horrible but when I heard about Mike Towell I was not surprised. And it will happen again. I have nothing against boxing but they have to look in to this.”
Boxing Scotland, the ruling body for the sport helped raise money for Daniel after his injury.
Another campaign has been launched by boxer Ricky Hatton to raise money for Mr Towell’s partner Chloe Ross and their young son, Rocco. It has already passed its £20,000 target.
The fighter, known as Iron Mike, was stretchered from the ring after a fifth-round loss to Evans in a St Andrew’s Sporting Club fight in Glasgow.
He was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, diagnosed with severe bleeding and swelling to his brain, and died shortly after 11pm on Friday, 12 hours after being taken off life support.
Ms Ross, Mr Towell’s partner of eight years, wrote on Facebook: “I’m absolutely heartbroken to say my annoying best friend passed away tonight at 11.02 very peacefully.
“Michael had severe bleeding and swelling to his brain. He had been complaining of headaches for the last few weeks but we put it down to migraines with the stress of his fight.
“It has been the longest 24 hours of our lives. My baby has lost his daddy. But he will be so so proud of his dad in what he achieved.” She later added that she was “in shock” as tributes continued to pour in from the boxing world.
She wrote an online post thanking people for their “kind messages and fundraising”.
“I can’t believe how loved that boy is! He will be so happy all his boxing heroes know who he is, just the wrong circumstances.”
The boxer’s family were at his bedside in his final hours and were joined by his manager, Tommy Gilmour, and St Andrew’s Sporting Club.
A spokesman for the club said nobody in Towell’s management team was aware of any headache problems leading up to the fight.
Mr Gilmour said the world of boxing had lost a “very special man”.
Despite claims from leading figures that boxing is safer than ever, head injury charity Headway said that lessons had not been learned from previous incidents and called for the sport to be outlawed to save young lives.
Headguards for amateur boxing was dropped for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and this year’s Olympics.
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