Nick Blackwell’s life changed forever on 26th March 2016 after entering the ring for what would be for the last time as a professional boxer.
Nick went 10 rounds with Chris Eubank Jr that night, but the fight was stopped due to swelling on his left eye. He later collapsed, was put into an induced coma and spent weeks in hospital.
Here, he shares with NR Times the story of his career, the two recovery journeys he has faced and his everlasting love for boxing.
Nick was British Middleweight Champion, Youngest Champion and WBC World Youth Title Champion. He’d had 24 professional fights, with 19 wins and eight knockouts when his career came to an abrupt end.
“I wanted to be a boxer from when I was a young child in the school playground,” he recalls.
Childhood dreams soon became a reality. Nick turned professional in 2009, signing with promotional team Hennessy Sports along with trainer Gary Lockett.
Nick was soon fighting across the country, as well as on the Continent, fighting at “York Hall, O2 Arena, SSE Arena, Monte Carlo, Marbella, Malta and many more”.
On his fight with Eubank Jr, Nick says: “I had the best corner that night, with the likes of Tyson Fury and Billy Joe Saunders walking out behind me and I had Liam Williams and Gary Lockett in my corner.”
The brain injury Nick sustained from the fight meant his boxing career came to a premature end. “I had to retire from boxing and being told I wasn’t able to box again was something I struggled a lot with.
“I feel there isn’t much support for boxers who have sustained brain injuries that have forced them to retire. It was my life and all I had known since being the young boy in the playground. It was heart wrenching.”
After waking from his first coma, Nick remembers feeling like he had made a complete recovery.
“I felt like the old Nick again,” he says, but this meant he perhaps mistakenly felt that he could also get back into the ring.
“I wrongly went sparring again and collapsed for a second time in the ring. This time things were serious and life-threatening.”
The professionals around him at the time weren’t sure if he was going to make it, he says.
“It was touch and go some days. I had pneumonia three times and I had a 75 per cent chance of dying, I had died in the ambulance and they brought me back.
“They had to cut a section of my skull to relieve the swelling and place it in my stomach to keep it alive. I was in a coma longer. I lost all feeling down my left side and I was looking through people.
“I gained over three stone and I had to learn to walk, talk and eat again. Things were not looking good.”
He says: “I am a fighter and I never gave up.
“I had to go into rehabilitation for nearly a year and start everything over again.
View this post on Instagram
“I still need help every day from my partner. My speech is a lot better, but becomes slurry when I am tired.
“I can’t walk too far and need someone with me at all times. Because of my memory loss I get disorientated.”
Nick still has ongoing physiotherapy, focusing on movement on his left side and, he tells us, he also has no vision on his left side at all.
Nick now uses his presence on social media to help spread awareness, telling us: “I don’t want to hide away anymore. I want people to see ‘The New Nick’ now, as I’m not the same Nick I used to be.
“I’m trying to raise awareness with my partner’s help, about brain injuries, how they affect people and their mental health.”
Nick’s partner helps him to stay involved in the boxing world by driving him to places he needs to be.
“My everyday life has changed dramatically and I am dependent on my partner helping me, she keeps me involved with the boxing life and helps me travel the best she can and she cares for me on a daily basis.”
Nick isn’t the only person that his partner has to care for, her son had a bleed on the brain at just a day old, which left him with a weaker right side, cerebral palsy and visual impairments.
As for boxing, Nick’s passion for the sport that started on the playground had endured.
“I’m in contact with all the boxers and I still love boxing. Boxers, promoters and coaches still try and keep me involved, as well as my partner driving me to weigh ins and work outs, which enables me to still see everyone, which helps with my mental health and rehabilitation to know I’m still involved in some way.”
View this post on Instagram
