Boxer's father tries to protect opponent

An English boxer's father has prophetically told his son to stop hitting his opponent as "beating him like this he’s getting hurt".

British middleweight boxer Nick Blackwell remains in an induced coma following his defeat to Chris Eubank Jr in their middleweight bout in London.

However, Blackwell may have escaped the procedure had the match referee listened in on the conversation between Eubank Jr and his father at the end of the eighth round.

Sensing the danger his son's opponent was facing, Eubank Sr criticised the referee for not stopping the fight and told his son to only attack the body of Blackwell.

"The next time you throw a flurry like that, if the referee doesn’t stop it then I don’t know what to tell you," Eubank Snr told his son.

"I will tell you this, if he doesn’t stop it and we keep on beating him like this he’s getting hurt.

"Why hasn’t the referee stopped the fight? I don’t get why.

"Maybe you shouldn’t leave it to the referee.

"But you're not going to take him out to the face, you're going to take him out to the body."

The 25-year-old Blackwell suffered bleeding on the brain after the fight was stopped in the 10th round on Saturday.

The stoppage came after a ringside doctor advised the referee that Blackwell was unable to see through his left eye.

He was carried out of the Wembley Arena on a stretcher.

"He's in intensive care, he's in an induced coma and he is resting and being looked after by the experts," British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Robert Smith said on Sunday.

"It's a very normal procedure. They put you in a coma to get the swelling to go down. There's no time scale. Now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing."