Boxing: McClellan remains sedated

BOXING

Doctors kept Gerald McClellan heavily sedated for the fourth day in a row yesterday, after a world title fight left him in a critical condition with a serious brain injury. However, the surgeon treating McClellan said it could work in his favour.

Because his brain remains slightly swollen, medical staff at the Royal London hospital have decided not to bring him out of his sedated condition. McClellan, who has had a large blood clot removed from his brain, continues to be kept on a ventilator. The hospital said he remains in a stable but critical condition.

"We are still having some difficulty with pressure inside his head being slightly elevated. That is why we have been unable to bring him out of sedation yet," said John Sutcliffe, the consultant neurosurgeon.

"But that doesn't create any extra problems so far as his hoped recovery is concerned. If anything it would help it. It's in his interests to be kept sedated in the circumstances, because he does not have to do anything while his brain recovers.

"We're doing everything for him - feeding, breathing," Sutcliffe said. "And we are monitoring everything that is going on inside his head."