Today a message came from New York that Russian boxer Magomed Abdusalamov may remain in a coma forever. On Sunday, in a protracted 10-round fight with Cuban Mike Perez, he... About the continuation sports career Abdusalamov, who was considered one of the most promising Russian heavyweights, is definitely out of the question. Now the doctors’ task is to try to bring the boxer back to life.

Magomed Abdusalamov met the referee’s decision, which was offensive for any boxer, that he was awarded the first defeat in his professional career while standing inside the ring at Madison Square Garden. The Russian, who could barely stand on his feet, spent the rest of his strength congratulating his opponent, Cuban Mike Perez. To those who watched, it seemed annoying, but not fatal. In the end, Perez is the most serious opponent of Abdusalamov’s entire career. It’s rare to get by without bruises and fractures in boxing, and both heavyweights managed to give a rare performance in this weight category active boxing.

In the tenth round, the Cuban delivered a devastating right cross. What happened next was not captured by worldwide broadcasts. Immediately after the fight, Abdusalamov was taken to the hospital. Doctors at the Roosevelt Center recorded fractures of the nose and left arm, a severe cut above the left eye, and injuries to the maxillofacial apparatus. A few hours later, Abdusalamov became worse. He complained about the strong headache and dizziness. Surgeons decided to put the boxer into an induced coma.

At this moment, the opponent in the ring responded with words of support. "My thoughts and prayers are with Mago now. I hope he gets better soon. He fought like a real warrior. I was happy to win, but now I only care about his health," Perez said.

Sports publications continued to report hope, almost even when news broke that Abdusalamov had had part of his skull removed. “The worst is over,” the press reported, citing the boxer’s agent. Myself . But today shocking news came from him. Abdusalamov has a stroke. He is still in a coma and whether he will ever come out of it is unclear. "Magomed has retired. We, the boxing family, cannot turn our backs on those brave people who play this sport at a time when they need us most. And we are going to do everything possible to get him back on his feet. Magomed is more won’t box, but he’s a good and brave man, he has a wonderful family. Every dollar will help,” Levkovich said.

At 32 years old, Abdusalamov won professional ring 18 wins (all by knockout). A victory over Perez opened his way to the World Cup. If Abdusalamov had won, he could have competed for the title with Vitali Klitschko. World boxing has already expressed support for the Russian and sympathy for his family. It was decided to raise the money much needed for treatment through a hastily created fund.

Not so long ago it was considered one of the main hopes of the domestic professional boxing in the most prestigious royal weight category of the heavyweight division. However, the career of this very physically gifted and promising fighter was cut short at the very peak, when he was already a couple of steps away from the fight for the world title. In November 2013, at the Madison Square Garden theater in New York, a native of the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, fought in the ring with the hitherto unbeaten Cuban boxer Mike Perez.

The fight took place on a collision course; the opponents often met in open combat. Based on the results of the 10 rounds allotted by the regulations, Perez was declared the winner by unanimous decision of the judges. And just a few hours later, the defeat in the ring almost turned into a tragedy. Only Magomed’s remarkable health and the qualifications of the doctors saved his life. Abdusalamov managed to escape from the clutches of death, but remained disabled, unable to move independently.

Magomed was born on March 25, 1981. His father Magomedgadzha was a very strong man by nature, who was fond of martial arts and became a master of sports of the USSR in freestyle wrestling. It was he who instilled a love for sports in his son. Influenced by Asian martial arts films that were then fashionable among teenagers, young Maga tried many types of martial arts. He started kickboxing at the age of 12. Thai boxing and other eastern disciplines. He became the champion of Russia and a finalist in the World Championship. Abdusalamov switched to boxing when he was already 22 years old, because he suffered a knee injury while practicing Muay Thai. He hoped to improve his hand function while his leg remained injured, but he remained in boxing.

Magomed’s first coach was Gadzhimurad Gaziev, with whom Abdusalamov became so close that he called his mentor his elder brother. Later, his Muay Thai coach was Zainalbek Zainalbekov. Magomed’s first mentor in pure boxing was Evgeniy Kotov. Abdusalamov failed to fully prove himself in amateur boxing. His trump cards were power, physical strength and a knockout blow. However, Magomed lacked technical, especially defensive skills precisely because he came to boxing late. Nevertheless, he managed to win the Russian championship among adults in the heavyweight division twice (in 2005 and 2006).

Abdusalamov had a chance to perform at Olympic Games 2008, but, representing Belarus, lost to the British David Price in the qualifying tournament. In total, Magomed has about 50 official fights in the amateur ring. Moreover, as Abdusalamov himself said, at least 95% of his amateur victories were won ahead of schedule. In September 2008, his professional boxing career began. At first it was led by the famous Russian promoter Yuri Fedorov. Then the American Leon Margules and his “stable” Seminole Warriors Boxing became co-promoter of Magomed. Later, sponsors from Azerbaijan provided financial support to Abdusalamov.

Magomed boxed in Russia and in the USA. Over time, he moved his family - his wife and daughters - to Florida. Abdusalamov completed his first eight pro fights early victories in the first round. The following opponents held their own against the Dagestani left-hander, who did not stand out for his elegant and refined technique, but was distinguished by his enormous power and lethal striking power, for not much longer. However, in many fights it was noticeable that Abdusalamov often neglected defense, acted too openly, and sometimes even recklessly. Magomed himself then said that in this way he was trying to lure his rivals into a trap. They say that in order to lure them out of their tight defense, you sometimes need to open up yourself, inviting your opponents to attack. But such tactics were fraught with danger.

And so on November 2, 2011, two hitherto unbeaten heavyweight prospects met in the ring - 32-year-old and 28-year-old Cuban Mike Perez. Bookmakers, which is quite rare, considered the chances of both opponents to win to be almost equal. The fight started without any build-up; from the first round the boxers rushed into a quick exchange of blows, in which, thanks to the best technology and coordination, the Cuban was more successful. But not only did Magomed fail to immediately suppress his opponent’s initiative in his characteristic style, but in this opening three-minute period one of Perez’s blows also broke his left cheekbone (the facial bone under the eye), which immediately began to swell.

However, in the second round, due to greater activity, Abdusalamov looked better than his opponent. And in the next few three-minute periods, the initiative passed from one to another. But after the equator of the fight, Abdusalamov’s face began to swell more and more, a cut formed above the same left eye, but most importantly, he began to get tired and slow down considerably. Perez turned out to be a strong guy and even the frankly missed series of blows did not bother him. The Cuban continued to rush forward, although he was good at working from long range. In the ninth round, the referee deducted one point from Perez for a low blow. However, this did not prevent the Cuban from bringing the fight to victory on points by unanimous decision of the judges - 95-94, 97-92, 97-92.

A few hours after the end of the battle, the situation began to develop dramatically. Seriously injured, Abdusalamov began to complain of a severe headache and was hospitalized with a diagnosis of cerebral hemorrhage at Roosevelt Medical Center in New York. Doctors urgently performed a craniotomy on Magomed and put him into an artificial coma in order to avoid possible brain damage from the formation of a blood clot. However, four days later Abdusalamov suffered a stroke. Doctors were forced to perform surgery to remove a blood clot from the brain, and also removed part of the skull to reduce the swelling.

A little later it became known that Magomed’s family did not have the money to cover the huge bills for his treatment and hospital stay. And here patrons from the world of boxing came to the rescue, including some active and former boxers. 20 days after the ill-fated battle, Abdusalamov was briefly brought out of an induced coma. But only on December 6, that is, more than a month later, Magomed finally emerged from his comatose state and began to breathe on his own. And four days later he was transferred from intensive care to a regular ward.

In 2014, Abdusalamov, who had lost a lot of weight, was moved to a rehabilitation center, where a long period of recovery began. We must pay tribute to Magomed’s wife, Bakanai Abdusalamova, who all this time has been faithfully caring for her husband, who has lost the ability to move independently, and is making titanic efforts for his successful rehabilitation. However, the brain damage turned out to be so serious that the boxer’s recovery process could take many years. Last summer, Magomed began talking quietly with his family. Unfortunately, doctors say that right side his body will forever remain paralyzed. However, Bakanay believes that one day her husband will get back on his feet, walk independently and lead a more or less full life.

The editors of “Championship” congratulate Magomed on his birthday and wish him a speedy recovery!

Abdusalamov Magomed Magomedgadzhievich

Magomed Abdusalamov - Russian athlete, a boxer who competed in the heavyweight category from September 2008 to November 2013. After a fight with Cuban Mike Perez, he was injured with a hematoma in the brain and underwent surgery. On November 6, Magomed Abdusalamov officially completed professional career.

Biography

In 1998 he graduated from school No. 9 in Makhachkala.

From 1999 to 2004 he practiced Thai boxing under the leadership of Zainalbek Zainalbekov.

In 2004 he graduated from the Makhachkala branch of the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute.

Since 2008, M. Abdusalamov has lived in the USA, in the city of Hallandale, Florida.

Boxing career

In 2004, he began boxing under the guidance of coach Evgeniy Kotov.

In 2005 and 2006, Magomed Abdusalamov became the Russian amateur heavyweight champion.

In 2008, M. Abdusalamov took part in qualifying competitions 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but failed to qualify.

In 2008, Magomed Abdusalamov made his first appearance in the professional ring in the heavy weight category. He fought his first fight as a professional on September 6, 2008, defeating Epiphanie Pipi from Ghana by knockout in the first round.

From September 2008 to April 2013, he fought eighteen fights and won all by knockout. He won his first 8 fights by knockout in the first round. He also won the next 10 fights by knockout in the early rounds.

On July 6, 2012, he won the US WBC (USNBC) Silver title. On March 8, 2013 he defended this title.

As of November 1, 2013, Magomed Abdusalamov was ranked fourth in the World Boxing Council (WBC) rankings.

On November 2, 2013, M. Abdusalamov lost on points to Cuban Mike Perez in a fight for the US heavyweight champion according to the World Boxing Council (WBC). The fight took place in New York at Madison Square Garden. This defeat was the first and only one in his career.

After the fight, the Russian boxer was diagnosed with a fracture of his left hand and nose, a cut above his left eye and a jaw injury. Also, during the examination, the athlete was found to have a blood clot in his brain. The athlete was put into an artificial coma and operated on.

On November 6, Nathan Levkovich, vice president of the Sampson Boxing promotion company, announced that Magomed Abdusalamov had completed his professional career and would no longer enter the ring.

On December 7, 2013, Magomed Abdusalamov came out of a coma, and on December 10, doctors transferred the boxer from the intensive care unit to a regular ward.

On December 21, 2013, an action was held at which for the treatment of Magomed Abdusalamov managed to collect about 600 thousand rubles . Part of the necessary funds and two months of rehabilitation were paid for by businessman, vice-president of the Russian Professional Boxing Federation Andrei Ryabinsky.

In February 2014, the wife of Magomed Abdusalamov filed a lawsuit for $100 million against the authorities of the American state of New York and the leadership of the New York State Athletic Commission. The family of the 32-year-old boxer has accused medical workers of negligence and unprofessionalism.
According to Abdusalamov’s family, it was the sluggishness of the fight organizers and doctors that led to irreversible brain damage to the athlete, who ended up in the hospital as a result of an injury received in the ring. The lawsuit also states that if the fight had been stopped in a timely manner, the injuries could have been avoided.

Marital status

Magomed Abdusalamov is married to Bakanai Abdusalamov. Their family has three children.

Sources:

1. Magomed Abdusalamov is the hope of Russian boxing. Curriculum Vitae(video). - Newspaper website Soviet Sports", November 4, 2013
2. Russian boxer Magomed Abdusalamov remains in an induced coma for eight days. - ITAR-TASS, 11.11.2013
3. Abdusalamov - McCline - on the undercard Klitschko - Charr. Press portrait of Abdusalamov. - Championship.com, 08/13/2012
4. Biography of boxer Magomed Abdusalamov. - RIA Novosti, November 4, 2013
5. Russian professional boxer Magomed Abdusalamov suffered his first defeat. - ITAR-TASS, November 3, 2013
6. "Vesti" online newspaper" - "Boxing. Abdusalamov’s family filed a lawsuit for 100 million,” 02/23/2014

Over 5 years of professional boxing, heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov has never lost; The boxer won all his victories exclusively by knockout and mainly in the early stages of the fight. Only in November 2013 did Magomed’s luck desert him - he not only lost to his opponent (albeit on points), but also ended up in the hospital the very next day with a blood clot in the brain.

Magomed was born in Makhachkala, Dagestan; He was the eldest son in the family and was brought up in full accordance with the strict tenets of the Muslim faith. Magomed’s father understood perfectly well that in the unstable situation that existed in the country at that time, the boy had every chance of getting involved with crime; Abdusalamov Sr. decided to protect his son from wrong life choices with the help of sports. The idea turned out to be extremely successful - the young man showed extraordinary athletic abilities. Magomed showed himself to be a talented boxer even when he was an amateur - so, in 2005 and 2006, he managed to win a convincing victory at the Russian heavyweight championship.

Alas, even despite such brilliant achievements, Abdusalamov remained for some time in the shadow of the more famous and successful

another fighter, Islam Timurziev; as a result, about access to international level Abdusalamov could not even dream of it.

In 2008, Abdusalamov took part in the Olympic qualifying competitions, but Magomed failed to qualify - Englishman David Price stood in his way, eventually taking bronze.

In 2008, Magomed retrained as a professional; He won his first eight fights by knockout in the first round. On at the moment Abdusalamov has 18 victories (all 18 by knockout) and 1 defeat. Relatively quick knockout victories are to this day a unique trademark of Magomed Abdusalamov.

At the end of 2011, Magomed defeated American boxer Rich Power; his opponent as a Magician

d knocked out already in the third round.

In February 2012, Abdusalamov defeated the American Pedro Rodriguez, who had never known defeat before. The Russian won his next victory over American Jason Pettaway; this time the opponent managed to hold out against Abdusalamov for more than three rounds - and only in the fourth he was knocked out. Magomed's next opponent, American Maurice Byarm, failed to repeat Pettaway's unique record and was knocked out in the second round.

In September 2012, Abdusalamov went to fight Jameel McCline; the fight turned out to be extremely intense, although rather short - in the first round, Magomed was sent away for the first time in his professional career.

I'm knocked down. Having come to his senses, Abdusalamov managed to turn the situation around - by the end of the first round he regained the lost initiative, and at the end of the second he knocked down his opponent. McCline managed to get up, but the referee considered it reasonable to stop the fight - with which Jamil did not argue. As it turned out later, Magomed did not go into the fight with McClain at all in better shape– even before the fight, he broke a rib and did not have time to completely heal the injury.

In March 2013, Puerto Rican Victor Bisbal came out against Magomed. Once again Abdusalamov had a much harder time than expected - Bisbal clearly dominated the first two rounds. Magomed spent the third and fourth rounds changing the situation; in the fifth he knocked out his opponent. The victory brought Magomed 3rd place in the WBC rankings.

Abdusalamov lost on points in 2013 Cuban boxer Mike Perez. The mere fact that Magomed Abdusalamov managed to defeat was in itself a surprise for boxing fans - for Magomed this was the first defeat. The Cuban failed to knock out his opponent, but the victory on points was awarded to Perez. Things didn't go well for the Russian boxer from the very beginning - an unsuccessful blow to the Cuban's head cost Magomed an injury to his left hand. Later, Perez further aggravated the situation by breaking Abdusalamov's nose.

The injuries received, however, did not seem particularly serious by the standards of this sport. After the fight, Magomed underwent a routine medical examination; doctors did not find anything suspicious, and Abdusalamov himself did not complain about anything. Boxer feeling

I felt quite normal and even found the strength to talk to journalists.

As it turned out later, the defeat in itself was by no means Magomed’s main problem - the next morning the boxer began to have severe headaches. Abdusalamov was sent to the hospital, where he was found to have a blockage in one of the blood vessels in his brain. To minimize the harmful consequences of this blockage, it was decided to put Magomed into an artificial coma.

The surgeons managed to cope with the operation - a blood clot that was potentially life-threatening to Abdusalamov was successfully removed. There is no threat to the boxer’s health at the moment; Apparently, Magomed will not even lose coordination of movements. Now his father Magomed Magomedgadzhi and brother Abdusalam are in New York with the boxer

As the boxer’s wife Bakanai Abdusalamova said, Magomed understands literally everything, recognizes his family and friends, and tries to speak. Magomed has good left hand control and constantly does exercises - squeezing a rubber ball, pulling an expander, throwing and catching a ball. The right hand reacts to stimuli, but only the fingers move, and the hand itself is still motionless. The same situation is with right foot. But Magomed even tries to write with his left hand, although this is not easy for him. The fact is that despite the fact that Magomed is left-handed, before the injury he wrote right hand. Magomed loves to hug his children and wife and blows kisses to them.
Magomed pays special attention to his youngest daughter: he calls her to him, hugs her, touches her cheek, and does not let her go. Magomed is able to distinguish colors and do arithmetic operations in his head. The swallowing reflex has also improved significantly recently. While doctors allow Magomed’s family to give him only pieces of ice, the medical workers themselves have already begun feeding him ice cream, yogurt and fruit juice, and Magomed himself is able to hold a spoon in his hand and bring it to his mouth. When the swallowing reflex is restored properly, doctors will completely abandon tube feeding.
Health workers say that the progress of the swallowing reflex is directly related to the progress of the speech apparatus: when swallowing improves, speech also improves. In fact, this is how it happens, because... Magomed has recently begun to pronounce more words, and almost every day the stock of spoken words is expanding.

“Today when I was leaving home, I asked Magomed what he would like to tell me,” says Bakanay. - He told me “happily”, and then paused and added “drive carefully.” He speaks quietly, but I’m already used to it and understand him very well. Lately, Magomed also senses when he needs to go to the toilet and lets him know about it.”

Let us recall that on November 2, 2013, Magomed Abdusalamov, who at the time of the fight with Perez occupied the fourth line of the WBC rating, during the fight received fractures of his left arm, nose, facial bone and traumatic brain injury, which resulted in brain swelling and a blood clot.
During the surgical operation to remove the blood clot, part of the boxer's skull was removed to relieve the pressure of the swollen brain on the skull, but unfortunately, by that time multiple brain hemorrhages had already occurred, aggravating the boxer's already serious condition.

After the operation, doctors put Magomed into a medically induced coma and gave him almost no chance of survival.
Magomed could not breathe on his own, was connected to an artificial life support machine and remained in a comatose state for a long time.
After the doctors managed to “wake up” Magomed, his condition began to slowly improve. Periods of improvement alternated with periods of being in a state of crisis, but after progress became obvious, doctors transferred Magomed to a specialized rehabilitation center for patients with brain injuries. After this, Magomed underwent surgery to reconstruct the skull and several other operations. Since then general condition the boxer is constantly improving.
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