It’s a little over three weeks since South African featherweight Ludumo Lamati was badly hurt in his losing fight with Britain’s Nick Ball. Lamati was stopped in the 12th round of his fight with Ball, the 31 year old collapsing in the ring soon afterwards. Admitted to hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland that night, May 27th, Lamati has been fighting hard as he makes a slow recovery. Of course, the boxing world moves on and fans tend to forget when lesser-known fighters suffer the kind of serious injuries Lamati sadly fell victim to.
But there is some good news, in that two weeks ago, Lamati was taken out of the induced coma he was placed in after the fight. As per a report from Sowetan Live, Lamati is making “a remarkable recovery.” Able now to walk, to eat and to dress himself, Lamati is also talking. Lamati, 21-1-1(11) is aware of the fight and what happened during it, and his biggest regret is the fact that he feels he let people down by failing to win the fight. Truly, boxers are a different kind of person.
Former champion Zolani Tete has travelled to Belfast to visit Lamati, as have the stricken fighter’s mother and girlfriend.
“They stay with our friend and visit Ludumo twice a day,” Larry Wainstein, Lamati’s manager, said. “Ludumo is doing very well; he dresses himself and he is walking although he gets tired quickly. Ludumo is very emotional when he talks to me. He keeps saying sorry because he feels he let me down by not winning and that is why I don’t talk to him too much. It affects me because he did not let me down; he fought his best fight.”
Lamati’s mother and girlfriend obtained visas and they visited him on Saturday, as did former champ Tete, who is “encouraging Lamati to soldier on.” Fighters stick together and it is at times like this that a person finds out who their real friends are.
Never let it be forgotten how dangerous the sport of boxing is and how brave the fighters are for even stepping into the ring. Let’s all hope Ludumo Lamati improves further as he fights the good fight.