Nick Blackwell: boxer stable after operation following sparring session

Boxer Nick Blackwell is stable and no longer sedated after an operation to reduce swelling on his brain.

Press Association Sport has reported the retired middleweight's condition is being monitored but he is nonetheless yet to wake up after suffering an injury in a sparring session last week.

The 26-year-old from Trowbridge suffered the injury last Tuesday in an ill-advised sparring session that took place despite him no longer having a licence to box.

He had retired after collapsing at the end of his defeat by Chris Eubank Jnr. in March, when he was found to have suffered a bleed on the skull and was put into an induced coma.

While Blackwell remains in hospital and will continue to be monitored by doctors, the British Boxing Board of Control's (BBBC) investigation into the circumstances surrounding his injury is also ongoing.

Their general secretary Robert Smith has spoken of the need to discover who oversaw the sparring session and who else was involved.

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.

Lockett said in a statement:

Meanwhile promoter Frank Warren called for anyone involved in the session to have their licence revoked.

He said those involved didn't have Blackwell's or boxing's interests at heart and described the incident as 'total madness'