I died for two weeks when scary knockout ended my career to leave me in tears but I’m back in the sport I love again after saving
Spencer Oliver is best known nowadays for his role as an expert boxing pundit, but was once a fast-rising fighter whose career came crashing down in a single tragic night. The former European super-bantamweight champion often appears across talkSPORT weighing in on the sport’s current affairs and will be part of our broadcast team for the Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch on Saturday night. Oliver is a key member of the talkSPORT Boxing teamGetty Fans who have started following boxing in recent times could therefore be forgiven for not knowing the full story of his history as a fighter. Oliver was a highly-rated contender in the 1990s who was viewed as one of the UK’s top prospects. Nicknamed ‘The Omen’, he won a silver medal representing England at the Commonwealth Games in 1994 as an amateur. He was therefore fast-tracked upon turning pro at super-bantamweight the following year. In his tenth professional fight, Oliver knocked out fellow 10-0 prospect Patrick Mullings (a former sparring partner of his) to win the Southern Area belt. Off the back of this victory, he was launched into a European title fight against Martin Krastev of Bulgaria, whom he stopped in just four rounds. At 11-0, Oliver became the fastest to win a European title boxer in history – this record stood for 26 years until being beaten by 10-0 Adam Azim earlier this year. Over the next year, he made three successful defences as he edged towards a world title shot and had made it into the top two spaces in the super-bantamweight rankings. However, he was now struggling to make super-bantamweight and eyeing a move up to featherweight. Because this would have reset his rankings progress, though, he was advised to remain at super-bantamweight for just a couple more fights. To cement his place as the top contender, win a world title, and then move up. Therefore, Oliver agreed to take a routine defence against Sergey Devakov – a little-known Israeli boxer with a mediocre record of 29-3-1. Oliver’s fight with Devakov was the last of his careerGetty Devakov had previously lost to Vincenzo Belcastro, who Oliver beat two fights prior and so was a heavy underdog. However, in a major upset Oliver was knocked out and, after struggling to make weight, ended up in an induced coma due to a brain injury. “I got a blood clot to the right side of my brain in my last fight, May 2, 1998,” Oliver told talkSPORT. “It’s a crazy story, so I’ll start from the beginning. I turned professional in 1995 and things moved really quickly for me. I won a European title quicker than anyone has ever won it. “Adam Azim actually just beat that, I held that record for 26 years or something like that – that’s how quick I was moving… “So then we fast forward now to the night I got injured. I’m now really, really struggling to make the weight, but I’m ranked number one or two in the governing body. “So it’s there and they go, ‘Look, Spence, win a world title and then move up.’ “I’m now 14-0, and I’m boxing a guy called Sergey Devakov. It was a routine defence. I’d seen him and he was pretty s*** to be fair. Or I thought he was. “I had problems outside of the ring going into the fight with an ex-partner. “But I’m also struggling to make the weight badly as well. We get to the weigh in. The weigh-in used to be at 6pm at night back then. I do the weigh in, get off the scales. And then I remember waking up in a hospital bed three weeks later. That’s all I remember. “So I don’t know what happened and I don’t know if I’m piecing this together in my mind after watching it, because I’ve got little flashbacks of it. “I got in the ring and I tripped over the MC’s wire. As I’m watching it [back on TV now], I think, ‘I remember [the crane on the ring walk] and I remember that.’ And that’s all, that’s basically it. Oliver has little memory of the fight nightGetty “This is the mad thing, we get into the first round – and this is why I don’t think I remember any of the fight – he hits me with a left hook and I go down. “And when I get up I’m wobbly, then the bell goes. But then I get a heavy nosebleed. “Now, I ain’t got a bone in my nose, I was born [without it], so the bleed was coming from the brain. But no-one knew that. “I was boxing out of character because everything was really weird and I’m trying to hit him and hold and all that sort of stuff. I don’t remember any of it. “And the bell goes for the tenth round, he hits me with a right hand and bang, I go over. “And then I get up – and I don’t remember this, it’s only for me watching – I fall into the referee and the referee sort of gets me and he puts me down. It quickly became apparent that something was seriously wrong after the fight was stoppedGetty “I’m on the floor and then there’s this guy that was called Eddie Carter, he was my cutman. “Eddie saw me going in
Spencer Oliver is best known nowadays for his role as an expert boxing pundit, but was once a fast-rising fighter whose career came crashing down in a single tragic night.
The former European super-bantamweight champion often appears across talkSPORT weighing in on the sport’s current affairs and will be part of our broadcast team for the Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch on Saturday night.
Fans who have started following boxing in recent times could therefore be forgiven for not knowing the full story of his history as a fighter.
Oliver was a highly-rated contender in the 1990s who was viewed as one of the UK’s top prospects. Nicknamed ‘The Omen’, he won a silver medal representing England at the Commonwealth Games in 1994 as an amateur.
He was therefore fast-tracked upon turning pro at super-bantamweight the following year.
In his tenth professional fight, Oliver knocked out fellow 10-0 prospect Patrick Mullings (a former sparring partner of his) to win the Southern Area belt.
Off the back of this victory, he was launched into a European title fight against Martin Krastev of Bulgaria, whom he stopped in just four rounds.
At 11-0, Oliver became the fastest to win a European title boxer in history – this record stood for 26 years until being beaten by 10-0 Adam Azim earlier this year.
Over the next year, he made three successful defences as he edged towards a world title shot and had made it into the top two spaces in the super-bantamweight rankings.
However, he was now struggling to make super-bantamweight and eyeing a move up to featherweight.
Because this would have reset his rankings progress, though, he was advised to remain at super-bantamweight for just a couple more fights. To cement his place as the top contender, win a world title, and then move up.
Therefore, Oliver agreed to take a routine defence against Sergey Devakov – a little-known Israeli boxer with a mediocre record of 29-3-1.
Devakov had previously lost to Vincenzo Belcastro, who Oliver beat two fights prior and so was a heavy underdog.
However, in a major upset Oliver was knocked out and, after struggling to make weight, ended up in an induced coma due to a brain injury.
“I got a blood clot to the right side of my brain in my last fight, May 2, 1998,” Oliver told talkSPORT.
“It’s a crazy story, so I’ll start from the beginning. I turned professional in 1995 and things moved really quickly for me. I won a European title quicker than anyone has ever won it.
“Adam Azim actually just beat that, I held that record for 26 years or something like that – that’s how quick I was moving…
“So then we fast forward now to the night I got injured. I’m now really, really struggling to make the weight, but I’m ranked number one or two in the governing body.
“So it’s there and they go, ‘Look, Spence, win a world title and then move up.’
“I’m now 14-0, and I’m boxing a guy called Sergey Devakov. It was a routine defence. I’d seen him and he was pretty s*** to be fair. Or I thought he was.
“I had problems outside of the ring going into the fight with an ex-partner.
“But I’m also struggling to make the weight badly as well. We get to the weigh in. The weigh-in used to be at 6pm at night back then. I do the weigh in, get off the scales. And then I remember waking up in a hospital bed three weeks later. That’s all I remember.
“So I don’t know what happened and I don’t know if I’m piecing this together in my mind after watching it, because I’ve got little flashbacks of it.
“I got in the ring and I tripped over the MC’s wire. As I’m watching it [back on TV now], I think, ‘I remember [the crane on the ring walk] and I remember that.’ And that’s all, that’s basically it.
“This is the mad thing, we get into the first round – and this is why I don’t think I remember any of the fight – he hits me with a left hook and I go down.
“And when I get up I’m wobbly, then the bell goes. But then I get a heavy nosebleed.
“Now, I ain’t got a bone in my nose, I was born [without it], so the bleed was coming from the brain. But no-one knew that.
“I was boxing out of character because everything was really weird and I’m trying to hit him and hold and all that sort of stuff. I don’t remember any of it.
“And the bell goes for the tenth round, he hits me with a right hand and bang, I go over.
“And then I get up – and I don’t remember this, it’s only for me watching – I fall into the referee and the referee sort of gets me and he puts me down.
“I’m on the floor and then there’s this guy that was called Eddie Carter, he was my cutman.
“Eddie saw me going in and out of like consciousness. And he told anaesthetist who was in the ring at the time, ‘Put a line in him and put him to sleep,’ they basically put me into an induced coma…
“So they had the ambulances there. They whacked me in the ambulance, took me to the National Neurological in Queen Square and they recognised that I had a bleed on the brain.
“They call it the golden hour – if they can do something within the hour, you’ve got a great chance of survival.
“It was huge. For two weeks, there was massive news every day. Massive news. We never had social media, but it was front page, back page of every paper.
“I had a three-hour operation to remove the blood clot from the right side of my brain…
“I wake up two weeks later. I remember it, this is the mad thing. I just remember waking up and I’ve got the tube in the mouth and all that.
“Because you’re effectively being kept alive by a machine. It’s mad.
“I think I died for two weeks.
“So I wake up. I’m looking around. I’m thinking, ‘Oh, no. I must have been knocked out.’ That’s what I’m thinking. I’m still at the fight. I still think it’s May 2. It’s now May 18.
“So two or three days after I’m coming out [of the coma], I’m still really spacey. I’m getting these terrible headaches because, obviously, they put half my skull back. But no-one’s told me to extent of the injury…
“So now I’m starting to come around more and more. After about a week [of me being semi-conscious] in hospital, they take my catheter out. That’s worse than a fight.
“Now I’m in the process where it’s, ‘Right Spence, now we’re going to start getting you to walk again.’
“And I’m thinking, ‘What is going on here?’ No-one’s told me the full extent of it because of the trauma that I’ve been through, in case of panic.
“So I get up and I’ve got this zimmer frame. My legs ain’t there at all. I’m taking all these small steps. I go to the toilet.
“And I get in there and there’s a mirror. It was grossly swollen. I looked in the mirror and I just started crying. That’s when I knew my boxing career was over.”
Four years prior to Oliver’s incident, Michael Watson changed British boxing’s medical procedures forever.
Watson too suffered a blood clot in his defeat to Chris Eubank, but did not get the rapid care in the so-called ‘golden hour’ that Oliver did and so suffered far worse life-changing consequences as a result.
Watch Fury Vs Usyk 2 Live on DAZN
*If you click on a link in this boxout we will earn affiliate revenue
How to Watch Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk 2 live on DAZN
Get ready to rumble with Fury vs Usyk 2 live on DAZN Pay-Per-View!
- Buy the PPV: Get access to the fight by purchasing the PPV on DAZN.
- No Commitment, 7-Day Free Trial: With your PPV purchase, you’ll also receive a 7-day free trial of DAZN. Enjoy all the action and explore DAZN‘s sports lineup with no extra cost!
- First Month Free: Monthly DAZN subscribers can get their first month for free when signing up!
- No Subscription Required: The PPV price is all you need to pay. There’s no obligation to continue after your free trial ends.
Don’t miss the biggest fight of 2024! On December 21st “Gypsy King” Tyson Fury takes on “The Cat” Oleksandr Usyk for a second time in what promises to be the rematch of the century – order now and start your DAZN free trial today!
While Oliver was ultimately able to return to a normal life in time, Watson spent more than a year in intensive care followed by six years confined to a wheelchair.
It took an extended period of time for him to regain the ability to speak and write.
In inspirational fashion, though, Watson guided Oliver through the early years after his enforced retirement.
“That was a really dark period of my life,” Oliver recalled. “Probably three or four years where I went through dark times.
“I was drinking, partying, just trying to rediscover myself. Michael Watson was a big help for me getting through that, because I looked at him and he was my pillar of strength, if you like.
“He’s such an inspirational guy, and I said, ‘Michael, how did you get through that?’
“And he said, ‘Muhammad Ali came to visit me in the hospital and that was the beginning of my rebuilding process. He came to me, he said, you’re the champ and you can do this… and that gave me so much strength because he was my boxing idol.’
“So I looked at Michael and I went, ‘You know what, I think you’re my boxing idol, you’re my pillar of strength, and you’re my Muhammad Ali.
“And that was basically the beginning of our relationship. We both started crying.
“He helped me through those dark times when I was like feeling really low. I say it to his face, ‘If it weren’t for you, Michael, I wouldn’t be where I am.'”
Spence is now a beloved member of the talkSPORT family, bringing his passion for boxing to its millions of listeners on the air and millions of listeners across talkSPORT.com and YouTube.
He is in Saudi Arabia for the heavyweight rematch and has been offering his unique insight into how Fury can exact revenge and give Brit fans an early Christmas present.
talkSPORT will bring you live commentary of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, December 21 with our coverage kicking off from 7.30pm
