Tim Tszyu’s longtime doctor says his world title fight should never have been allowed to continue due to a severe cut that, over two inches long and “down to the scalp”, left Australia’s boxing superstar fighting blind for 30 minutes.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia, Dr Bill Anseline also praised Tszyu’s cut man Mark Gambin for his work on a “severe wound” which later required 10 stitches, stressing: “Trying to stem the blood flow, you were on a hiding to nothing”.
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Both ‘Dr Bill’ and Tszyu’s manager Glen Jennings also praised the warrior spirit of Australia’s boxing star, describing as “superhuman” his efforts to fight towering southpaw Sebastian Fundora for a staggering 10 rounds while blinded – and still come within a point of unifying the decision.
A popular Gold Coast physician who has worked for the likes of Elton John, Ed Sheeran and The Rolling Stones, Anseline also has a wealth of fight experience having supported all three Tszyus, including Kostya’s 16 years in the ring.
While in Las Vegas this week as part of Tszyu’s entourage for his world title blockbuster with Fundora, he was seated back several rows when Sunday’s championship fight took place.
Yet Anseline said when Tszyu was cut open on the top of his head late in the second round, he could see even from images on the T Mobile Arena big screens “there was a real problem”.
He suggested that when ringside physicians initially inspected the cut after rounds two and four and should have been called off.
Main Event’s Ben Damon agreed, tweeting: “No point having a doctor if they aren’t willing to stop a fight when one man has been hit by an axe. Unbelievable this wasn’t stopped at the end of 2.”
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Had the fight been called off before the fourth round, it would have been declared a ‘No Contest’.
Even if the bout had been stopped at the end of the fourth it would have been a draw, with Tszyu then retaining his WBO strap.
Anseline said however, that with doctors demanding the fight continue – “and Tim Tszyu being the warrior he is” – the group worked at the impossible task of stemming what the fighter himself described afterwards as an unending “fountain” of blood.
Speaking a day after the fight and while he Jennings were travelling to see Tszyu, Anseline said: “As soon as I saw that cut on the big screen I said ‘this has to be stopped’.
“I knew straight away it was over.
“And trying to stem that blood flow, you were on a hiding to nothing.
“It was a severe cut.
“Inspecting it after the fight, it was down to the scalp.
“So had it been me officiating, I would’ve stopped that fight.
“But of course, I’m not the sanctioned doctor.
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“Yet if I had been the ringside physician for that fight I wouldn’t have been worried about the crowd or anyone else … my duty of care is to the fighter, and I would’ve stopped it.”
Anseline said he even wanted to get to the corner of his fighter from his spot in the crowd but “when you got a couple of US troopers standing in front of you with guns, there isn’t much you can do”.
“I just felt numb,” he said.
Jennings, meanwhile, was sat front row alongside No Limit promoters George and Matt Rose, and conceded it was difficult at first to know just how bad the cut was.
“But I remember looking back at Dr Bill,” he added, “who gave me the indication that there was nothing could be done”.
Both Anseline and Jennings also rejected suggestions from US analysts that Team Tszyu didn’t have the right gear to treat the wound, and that they should have even stopped the fight themselves.
“You can’t fault what the team did,” Dr Bill continued.
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“Our corner goes on what the doctors tell them and you had two of them there saying the fighter was right to continue.
“And when they’re talking about ointments, it’s adrenaline to stop the bleeding and then a layer of petroleum jelly, or Vaseline, over the top.
“Mark used all the products approved by the WBA, the commission and did everything by the book.
“But it really was like that boy with his finger in the dyke … you only have so many of fingers.
“The scalp has very big blood supply, has a lot of connective tissue, so the adrenaline is used to constrict the blood vessels and decrease the bleeding.
“But normally when people come in with a big head wound like that, you’d put a local antiseptic in there (via a needle) and then put pressure on it for 15 to 20 minutes.
“Our corner had one minute to get everything done.”
Jennings added: “When that cut happens at the end of round two you’ve got a minute to clean your fighter, wipe the blood from his eyes, stop the bleeding, stop the swelling and all while giving instructions about what needs to be done in the next round.
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“All that too while the doctor is saying your fighter is right to continue.
“And Tim Tszyu is never going to say he can’t continue … that just won’t happen.”
Asked about suggestions of not having the right gear, Jennings said: “This is the land of conspiracy.
“The corner didn’t have the right gear, your cut man had three arms … that’s just how ridiculous it all is.
“Stitch Duran, arguably the best known cutman in boxing, described that wound on the night as a ‘nightmare’ to treat, said it couldn’t have been any worse.
“And our team operates within the confines of what the commission allows you to use, and what is approved.
“So we had the right stuff.
“Mark was there doing his job, packing the wound with adrenaline via the (cotton) buds, then covering it with gel.
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“But what concerned me was when the doctor would come up on the apron to do his inspection and, before Tim went back out, would wipe it all off.
“I was thinking ‘hey, you can’t wipe everything off, let it do its job’.
“But you aren’t able to question the doctors … they needed to see the wound, but to see the wound they were wiping off all the good work that had been done.”
Regardless, Jennings described Tszyu’s efforts to fight blind and still come within a point of winning both the WBO and WBC titles as “monumental”.
“To see a fighter visually impairment like that for 10 rounds and still only lose by a point … it’s superhuman,” he said.
“Who else does that?
“It’s amazing bravery.”