THE family of Trowbridge boxer Nick Blackwell have said they can understand what led him to step into a boxing ring again – although his dad admitted he thought at first he was the victim of a practical joke when he heard the news.

Nick, 26, suffered the injury in a sparring session just eight months after he was placed in a week-long induced coma after sustaining a serious head injury in a title defence fight against Chris Eubank Jnr.

It is understood he has been taken off sedation following the surgery, but has not regained consciousness, although his condition is stable.

John Blackwell, Nick’s dad, told the Wiltshire Times this week he was ‘silly’ to get back in the ring so soon, but explained that boxing is his son’s life.

“It’s like an addiction for him. Professional athletes like Nick find it impossible to stop doing what they love,” he said.


"He must have thought he was getting better but he obviously wasn’t. He is the same, but he is stable. It is a case of taking it day-by-day.
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“The gym owner and boxers involved are also at fault, but my main concern is making sure Nick is OK, not what happens to them.

“What he did was silly but he should not have been allowed to enter that gym in the first place.”


Mr Blackwell, 57, added that he thought he was the victim of a practical joke when his other son, Dan, told him the news after the injury happened last Tuesday, November 22.

“I was expecting Dan and Nick to turn up at my house with smiles on their faces after Dan had called me but as soon as I opened the door I knew it wasn’t a joke.

“It’s such an agonising wait and it’s the second time we’ve had to go through it this year.”


The British Boxing Board of Control has said an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the sparing session which caused Blackwell’s injury will be held in the new year.

This week general secretary for the British Boxing Board of Control, Robert Smith, told a national newspaper that his trainer’s licence should have made it prohibitive for Blackwell to spar and that “it still makes no sense to me what Nick was doing in the ring”.


The incident happened without the knowledge of Blackwell’s former trainer Gary Lockett, who had encouraged the fighter to get his trainer’s licence if he wanted to remain in the sport.

Ryan Wheeler, a professional boxer from Frome who used to spar with Blackwell, said: “Nick always liked a good fight and there was never such thing as a light sparring session.

“He was maybe silly to get back in the ring only eight months after the fight with Eubank but when you’re a professional athlete the urge to compete can sometimes be too much.

“He’s a top bloke so all we can do is pray he’s OK.”