Bridge jumping boxer 'lucky' to live
By MICHAEL FIELD - Fairfax Media | Tuesday, 26 June 2007
American heavyweight boxer Kelvin "Koncrete" Davis is incredibly lucky to be alive but faces surgery today on his broken back and neck after jumping off Auckland's Greenhithe Bridge.
Promoter Dean Lonergan told Fairfax Media that Davis - dubbed "Li'l Tyson" due to his short stature and facial tattoos - lay unconscious for two hours on rocks on a wet and cold Sunday night before help came.
Davis was to have fought New Zealander Shane Cameron in Auckland on Thursday night.
Just what happened to him though is still something of a mystery.
Lonergan says he has a rough idea and it followed having dinner together.
The boxer then went running along the Upper Harbour Drive.
"From what I can understand he has run along the Greenhithe bridge and the cars, it's dark ... cars are coming close to him and I think he was close to the bottom of the bridge, and they come too close to him," Lonergan says.
"Obviously he is an American and the cars have come too close to him and for whatever reason he has jumped off."
Lonergan said he thinks that in the dark, on a sloping bridge, Davis misjudged the distance down and hit the rocks, knocking himself out.
"Two hours later with a broken neck and a broken back he walks from the bottom, where he was, up onto the bridge and hailed a car."
An ambulance was called and he was taken to North Shore Hospital.
"He's incredibly lucky but how many guys do you know could get up and walk with a broken neck and broken back?
"I was there with the doctor who said if Kelvin fell off the bed now he could be paralysed, just by doing that."
Davis undergoes surgery today but he has full feeling in his arms and legs and is not expected to be paralysed.
"He was very lucky, I was there when the doctor told him how lucky he was. He is very very lucky not to be paralysed."
Lonergan said Davis is likely to be in hospital for two and a half weeks followed by several weeks resting before going home to the US.
"I've got to say its one of the more bizarre things I have had to contend with in event promotions."
The boxing carries on.
Cameron, the "Mountain Warrior", will now meet Brazilian Jucimar Francisco Hipolito.
Cameron's International Boxing Federation Pan Pacific, World Boxing Association Pan African and World Boxing Organisation Asia Pacific belts are at stake.
By MICHAEL FIELD - Fairfax Media | Tuesday, 26 June 2007
American heavyweight boxer Kelvin "Koncrete" Davis is incredibly lucky to be alive but faces surgery today on his broken back and neck after jumping off Auckland's Greenhithe Bridge.
Promoter Dean Lonergan told Fairfax Media that Davis - dubbed "Li'l Tyson" due to his short stature and facial tattoos - lay unconscious for two hours on rocks on a wet and cold Sunday night before help came.
Davis was to have fought New Zealander Shane Cameron in Auckland on Thursday night.
Just what happened to him though is still something of a mystery.
Lonergan says he has a rough idea and it followed having dinner together.
The boxer then went running along the Upper Harbour Drive.
"From what I can understand he has run along the Greenhithe bridge and the cars, it's dark ... cars are coming close to him and I think he was close to the bottom of the bridge, and they come too close to him," Lonergan says.
"Obviously he is an American and the cars have come too close to him and for whatever reason he has jumped off."
Lonergan said he thinks that in the dark, on a sloping bridge, Davis misjudged the distance down and hit the rocks, knocking himself out.
"Two hours later with a broken neck and a broken back he walks from the bottom, where he was, up onto the bridge and hailed a car."
An ambulance was called and he was taken to North Shore Hospital.
"He's incredibly lucky but how many guys do you know could get up and walk with a broken neck and broken back?
"I was there with the doctor who said if Kelvin fell off the bed now he could be paralysed, just by doing that."
Davis undergoes surgery today but he has full feeling in his arms and legs and is not expected to be paralysed.
"He was very lucky, I was there when the doctor told him how lucky he was. He is very very lucky not to be paralysed."
Lonergan said Davis is likely to be in hospital for two and a half weeks followed by several weeks resting before going home to the US.
"I've got to say its one of the more bizarre things I have had to contend with in event promotions."
The boxing carries on.
Cameron, the "Mountain Warrior", will now meet Brazilian Jucimar Francisco Hipolito.
Cameron's International Boxing Federation Pan Pacific, World Boxing Association Pan African and World Boxing Organisation Asia Pacific belts are at stake.
