A twist has appeared in the January 6th bout between Vergil Ortiz Jr. and Fredrick Lawson as the referee that presided over the match, Tony Weeks, reveals that Lawson has had brain scans which showed him to have an aneurysm. Weeks had been heavily criticized following his decision to stop the match between Lawson and Ortiz in just the first round which was scheduled for a total of twelve rounds, but the American referee has now come out with a shocking statement.
Tony Weeks first confirmed this news on his Facebook account where he justified his decision to stop the fight between super welterweights Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KO’s) and Fredrick Lawson (30-4, 22 KO’s) on the basis of pre-match knowledge surrounding Lawson’s dubious medical status.
“What the public didn’t know [was] that prior to the fight they [unclarified] did a brain scan on him [Fredrick Lawson],” Weeks claimed in a Facebook post he later shared through his Instagram account.
“It came up that he had an aneurysm, and they did a test again, and the same aneurysm came up. Another doctor was brought in and gave him the same examination and he [then] tested negative for the aneurysm, so they cleared him to fight.”
This revelation now heavily puts Golden Boy Promotions, the promoter for the January 6th event, under question as they might have knowingly let a fighter participate in a twelve-round bout despite him not appearing to be medically sound for the match.
Medically-speaking, it is extremely odd that Lawson was cleared to fight after just one negative brain scan after being scanned twice for a brain aneurysm. Golden Boy appeared to be less concerned about the health of Lawson and seemed hellbent on the show continuing as there are no reports of more and/or thorough brain scans to verify whether Lawson was truly healthy enough to fight.
More, conversely, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC)―who regulated the January 6th card―actually did pull a fighter [Sena Agbeko] off a fight card over one positive scan for brain aneurysm, despite that same athlete having endeavored to clear himself for a fight with subsequent tests by accredited neuro surgeons.
Additionally, Agbeko had put in the required effort to clear himself for fight including the provision of evidence of the results of his follow-up brain scans scans, yet all of his efforts amounted to nothing as he was still removed from his fight with David Morrell on April 22nd.
In comparison, Fredrick Lawson and his team were cleared to fight based on just one single negative test despite two positive tests for brain aneurysm prior.
The inconsistency displayed by the NSAC when comparing these two cases certainly paints a grim picture of the sanctioning commissioning’s ability to regulate professional combat matches.
If Weeks’ claims are true, Lawson might have a case against Golden Boy and NSAC as they put his health in danger. Though Lawson and his team appeared to protest the decision following Weeks’ stoppage, it also falls to his team to take responsibility and accountability for potential health concerns and withdraw him before the fight.
While both fighters needed the match to continue to be monetarily compensated, ringside physicians generally advise for fighters who have scanned positively for brain aneurysms to be denied a license to fight professionally; temporarily or permanently. As had been explained earlier, this same type of advise was applied just last year when Sena Agbeko was pulled off a fight card for a positive scan for brain aneurysm by NSACS.
Darren McDermott is boxing’s most well-known case of a fighter that has dealt with a severe form of a brain aneurysm which ultimately led to a settlement with the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) who allowed him to fight amidst an undetected aneurysm. McDermott was forced to retire after the condition had been uncovered in 2011 during the preparation for a match against British middleweight Paul Smith―older brother of current professionals Liam and Callum Smith―and he has since been recovering from an emergency surgery to his brain. McDermott and his family settled with the BBBofC in 2018.
All the parties involved in organizing and sanctioning the match will likely not face any legal repercussions if Lawson chooses not to pursue this matter, but in essence there is a case for Fredrick Lawson to build on given he had been thrown into a match against a fighter with a 100% knockout ratio while allegedly dealing with a brain aneurysm that had been detected beforehand.
It does need to be reiterated that Lawson and his team bear the brunt of responsibility, as they chose monetary compensation over health despite knowing there had been a positive scan of a brain aneurysm―which has shown to be heavily debilitating towards one’s health as in the case with Darren McDermott. Lawson’s teams willingness to continue with the match without further thorough scans paint a grim picture of the sport of boxing where neither promoter, sanctioning body or even coaching staff seem to be capable of making the right decisions, and controversial referees have now stepped up to save fighters from themselves.
