An Auckland boxing gym has halted its corporate boxing matches after an amateur fighter was knocked out for 20 minutes in "traumatic" fashion.
The Herald on Sunday reports the knockout took place during a match at Boxing Alley in Parnell on April 27, where two corporate fighters were in the ring after being trained for about 12 weeks.
Another person fighting that night, Maddie Brogan, told the Herald on Sunday it was "traumatic" for the audience and that the entire night was called off after the fighter was taken away in an ambulance.
"It sort of got hushed up," she said.
"Because it happened so suddenly it was traumatic for everybody there ... people didn't really want to fight because this guy got super injured.
"It was out of nowhere, and we didn't really know how serious it was until he wasn't moving at all and then everyone jumped on stage."
Boxing Alley owner Michael Legg, who trained the injured fighter, told the Herald on Sunday he was now doing well.
"Last I heard he was doing really well," Mr Legg said.
"He's had the brain therapy stuff but he's sort of come good now ... he's running and he's all good."
Former NRL star Monty Betham also works at the gym, and confirmed Mr Legg was shaken by the incident, and that a corporate event had not taken place since.
He also said a high standard of safety precautions in place during the match.
Melbourne neurosurgeon Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld told the Herald on Sunday a 20 minute unconsciousness was "significant" and said "if you have a number of concussions that are of the order of 20 minutes of unconsciousness then you are putting yourself at risk of having permanent brain damage.
"When you have a 20 minute loss of consciousness there is internal damage or derangement in the brain and in some people that can reverse completely, and in others it doesn't," Professor Rosenfeld said.
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