An American boxer has branded NHS hospital staff “inept animals” over the care he received after a fight in Britain.
Paulie Malignaggi, a 45-year-old bare-knuckle boxer, received treatment at Leeds General Infirmary after beating Tyler Goodjohn in a five-round bout at an event last October.
The fighter was left with two severe cuts above his eyes and multiple fractured ribs. He claims that the treatment he received has caused one of his cuts to become “constantly infected” and said that staff “wouldn’t even be allowed to work on farm animals” in America.
Malignaggi insisted his care would have been better in America, and claimed he heard staff “gossiping” in another room while he was waiting to be seen.
Malignanni, right, in a fight against Artem Lobov in Florida in 2019 Alex Menendez/Getty Images
“The cuts [I suffered] would have been just a regular stitch job in a regular hospital in the United States,” Malignaggi said on The Ariel Helwani Show, a sports podcast.
“But they have people in the UK who work in the NHS who in America probably wouldn’t even be allowed to work on farm animals. They let them work on human beings in these hospitals. I was in that hospital all night.
“My wounds were not cleaned. Basically, what I’m getting at is [that] one of the cuts has been constantly infected and pussing out up until a few weeks ago. It is closed at the moment — I expect it to open up in the fight, but I expect cuts to open up in a bare-knuckle fight.”
Malignaggi talks about his injuries and treatment on The Ariel Helwani ShowThe Ariel Helwani Show/YouTube
He blamed his ongoing injuries on the quality of care he experienced in the A&E department: “This is due to the animals they have working at the NHS.”
He added: “Absolute inept animals, who were keeping me in the waiting room, not cleaning the blood dripping down my face. I’m hearing them gossiping in the other room — the hospital is almost completely empty. They don’t even have a guy there to stitch anybody, let alone take care of whoever is in there.”
The Times understands that the emergency department was treating about 100 patients on the evening of the fight, and that it was a typically busy Saturday.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We’re sorry Mr Malignaggi had to wait in our emergency department to be treated following his bare-knuckle fight. We prioritise patients based on clinical need to ensure that the most critically ill patients are treated first. If Mr Malignaggi would like to contact us, we would be happy to discuss his complaint further.”
Leeds General Infirmary in West Yorkshire Alamy
Bare-knuckle boxing is a full-contact sport where participants fight without gloves. The sport was banned in the United States for more than 130 years until it was legalised in 2018. Maglinaggi fought his bout at Planet Ice Leeds.
The former WBA welterweight champion said: “I’m in that waiting room half sleeping, because it’s the middle of the night, half passing out, with blood dripping down my face. It was a pretty interesting experience.”
The fighter also revealed that he has been suffering from vision loss due to a poke in the eye sustained in the fight, but said his eyesight was “pretty close” to what to was before.
Malignaggi is now set to challenge Rolando Dy, the bare-knuckle boxing super-welterweight champion. A victory would see him win his first world championship since 2012.