Boxer Garcia Takes a Turn for the Worse

Injured boxer Jimmy Garcia’s condition worsened Thursday, and his doctor said Garcia was in danger of suffering a fatal stroke.

Doctors who had been optimistic about Garcia’s chances for recovery said the Colombian boxer was unresponsive overnight and his condition became unstable Thursday.

“It’s possible he won’t make it through this,” said Albert Capanna, the neurosurgeon who operated on Garcia after he was injured Saturday night in a World Boxing Council super-featherweight title fight against Gabriel Ruelas.

Capanna said he gave Garcia some different medication Thursday which helped him “make a little progress” but said he was still in critical and unstable condition.

“I’m not as optimistic as I was,” Capanna said late Thursday afternoon.

Garcia had shown steady improvement since surgery Saturday night to remove a large blood clot from his brain.

The boxer had been able to respond to efforts to move the right side of his body and squeezed his father’s hand on command earlier in the week.

Capanna said a CAT scan done Wednesday night showed the 23-year-old boxer’s brain was in place but that there were indications that he could suffer a stroke in some areas of the left side of his brain.

A stroke could prove fatal, he said, because it would lead to swelling on the brain.

Garcia collapsed in his corner after his fight with Ruelas at Caesars Palace was stopped 25 seconds into the 11th round.