Boxing News: World champion Eamonn Magee's career may be over after he was savagely assaulted by thugs in Belfast, friends feared yesterday. He was left with a broken leg and suspected punctured lung when he was seized by a gang who hammered him with pickaxe handles.
Magee (32), who was preparing for a major fight next month, wept when told of his career-threatening injuries. Although his hospital condition was described as stable, associates said Magee may never recover enough to get into the ring again.
He won the WBU welterweight title in Cardiff late last year.
Coach John Breen said: "I just pray to God his injuries are not as bad as I fear," he said. "It is very hard for a young person to recover after getting a leg broken in two places. Eamonn is 32 years old. We will just have to wait and see."
Even though some of Magee's friends admitted he had enemies on the streets of Belfast, others said they believed he may have been the victim of mistaken identity.
A police source said the boxer had been interviewed and was not prepared to lodge an official complaint, so they could not investigate the incident.
Magee, originally from Ardoyne in north Belfast, underwent surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital and is expected to be transferred to the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald on the outskirts of east Belfast.
He was admitted to hospital in the early hours of yesterday after he was beaten by a gang who intercepted a car in which he was a passenger at Blacks Road on the outskirts of west Belfast.
Magee, who lives at Lagmore in Derriaghy, was attacked as he tried to escape from the car. He was beaten about the legs, arms and face with cudgels.
The former Commonwealth light-welterweight champion and world junior silver medallist, nicknamed "The Terminator", suffered a broken tibia and fibula and extensive bruising.
Magee's career was on the up after he clinched the WBU title in Cardiff on December 6th last year. Promoter Frank Warren had lined up a fight with former WBA welterweight champion Sharmba Mitchell in Manchester on April 3rd.
Warren said he now feared for the boxer's future: "I was hoping too clinch the Sharmba Mitchell fight for Eamonn today. It's a shocking blow for him and his family."
Breen added: "It's a sickening blow for Eamonn. He seemed to be on the way to some very big fights but now you just wonder what the future will hold.
"He has been the biggest attraction in Irish boxing for some time and for this to happen to him, particularly at this time of his career, is such a blow."
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