Classic Irish Boxing – Oisin Fagan Fights on Against Amir Khan With Fractured Ankle

8 December 2008 – By Mark Doyle

Oisin Fagan has revealed that he fractured his ankle during the first round of his defeat by Amir Khan on Saturday night.

The Dublin lightweight was stopped in the second round of his clash with Commonwealth champion Khan and is reluctant to make excuses for his display.

However, Fagan, understandably, believes that the injury played a huge part in his surprisingly poor performance.

“I’m absolutely gutted. First of all I don’t want to take anything away from Amir Khan – he’s an exceptional fighter and a lovely kid and looked very sharp in there – but, truth be known, that when I went down the first time, in the first round, I broke my ankle, he revealed.

“Obviously I didn’t know for certain it was broken until I got it checked out, but I knew there was something wrong, as I couldn’t put my weight on my left foot; hence the reason I looked so uneasy and off-balance in there.

“Anybody who watched the fight or replays it can clearly see me getting up after the first knockdown and having to use the ropes to steady myself while limping.

“Then there is footage of me hopping around the ring thereafter.

“I have to go for X-rays tomorrow [Monday], but a friend of mine who is a nurse is quite certain, by the colours and burst blood vessels, that the ankle is broken and has also had some bad ligament damage.

He continued: “It’s very rare that I go down in a fight. I have to hand it to Amir, it was a lovely shot to put me down the first time, with a nice short little right hand, but after that, it was the fact that I kept coming forward and when I put my weight on my broken ankle, it just seemed to buckle from underneath me.

“Again, no disrespect to Amir- he’s a great kid and a brilliant boxer – but I just don’t think he’d have had it quite so easy if I hadn’t broken my ankle in the first round.”

Consequently, Fagan is hopeful that the revelation could secure him another crack at Khan.

“Who knows what would have happened if my ankle was okay all the way through? I guess we won’t know, unless he gives me a rematch, which I would be very keen on taking, he stated.”