Burglar attack could end boxer Crolla’s career
BRITISH boxer Anthony Crolla may never fight again after suffering a fractured skull in a violent confrontation with burglars on Tuesday night, his trainer Joe Gallagher has warned.
Gallagher said Crolla, 28, had surgery yesterday after being left “discombobulated” and fortunate to be alive by the attack near his home in Greater Manchester.
Crolla is said to have been hit over the head with a concrete slab after apprehending one of two men who set off an alarm at his neighbour’s house. He then fell and broke his ankle in two places.
Promoters are in talks to reschedule his first world title fight, which had been set for next month, but Gallagher believes lightweight Crolla may have already fought his last bout.
“We were so grateful for the world title opportunity but that’s gone. Whether they can reschedule it, whether he’ll get the opportunity again and whether he can even ever fight again remain to be seen but first we have to concentrate on getting Anthony back to full health,” he said.
“I went straight to the hospital last [Tuesday] night and he was shocked, stunned, very upset. When I spoke to him this morning he was discombobulated, all over the place, taking in everything that’s happened. Boxing is his life but it plays second fiddle at the moment.”
Crolla, who has won 29 of 35 professional fights, had been in training to take on Cuba’s WBA world champion Richar Abril in Manchester on 23 January.
He is the third leading figure in British boxing to be seriously injured in an altercation outside of the ring this year, following incidents involving IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook and trainer Jamie Moore.
Brook suffered knife wounds to his leg and arm in an attack during a holiday to Tenerife in September, a month after former European light-middleweight champion-turned-trainer Moore was shot in the legs in Marbella.