A coronial inquest into the death of a New South Wales boxer has raised serious questions about duty of care, regulatory effectiveness and athlete safety in the sport.
Davey Browne Jr, 28, was winning on points when he was knocked out by Filipino Carlo Magali in the 12th round of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Pan Pacific super featherweight title fight on 11 September 2015. He died three days later from an acute subdural haematoma, or severe bleeding on the brain.
A neurosurgeon, Brian Owler, who reviewed footage of the fight told the inquest it was “very likely” Browne was suffering from concussion before he was knocked out.
Five people had the authority to intervene in the match that night at Ingleburn RSL, in western Sydney, but none of those questioned during the inquest about their ability to recognise the signs and symptoms of concussion said they had received specific training in the matter as part of their official roles in the sport. The ringside doctor told the inquest that though he had been medically trained, it was about 30 years ago.
Much of the week-long inquest focused on questions over whether the fight should have been stopped and the duty of the ringside doctor or other officials to intervene.
It also highlighted systemic confusion about the sport’s rules, and a lack of mandatory training for ringside doctors, coaches and Combat Sports Authority-appointed inspectors in how to recognise serious head injuries, and how to confidently and effectively intervene to stop a fight.
CCTV footage from the night shows Browne wobbling and unsteady on his feet after a knockdown and a subsequent series of hard blows in the 11th round. Browne’s wife, Amy Lavelle, and his mother-in-law Heather Lavelle – an intensive care nurse who attended to Browne after the knockout – who both witnessed the event, said Browne did not seem himself during this part of the fight, with Amy Lavelle describing a “sinking feeling” in that round.
Browne’s trainer, Todd Makelim, and cornermen Tommy Browne and Glen Smith also told the deputy state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan that they believed Browne had sustained a significant injury to his hand in the earlier rounds of the fight, but did not bring it to the attention of the doctor, referee or the combat sports inspectors present.
Owler, a clinical neurosurgeon at Westmead hospital, told the coroner’s court that he believed, on the basis of the footage, that Browne sustained a concussion in round 11, due to his unsteady and wide gait, and a “paucity of movements” before the knockout in round 12.
But Dr Lawrence Noonan, who had been the ringside doctor on that night, told the inquest that he had been reluctant to move from his seat during the fight due to the speed at which it was moving, and he believed Browne was “fit enough to give it a go”, despite not performing any medical assessments on Browne during the fight itself.
When asked why fights had ringside doctors in attendance, Noonan said it was “an historical position” that he believed had only been defined by the Combat Sports Authority in the last three years, and that he could not recall “any specific rules that govern the requirements, responsibilities or performance of a medical practitioner”.
Referee Charlie Lucas was asked whether he ought to have applied a discretionary standing eight count to Browne in round 11, when the boxer fell back against the ropes but did not fall over just as the bell rang to end the round.
“It was a split second decision that I had to make,” Lucas said. He also said he believed Browne to be “recovering sufficiently” between rounds 11 and 12.
A standing eight count is controversial in professional fights, as it qualifies as a knockdown and affects the boxers’ scorecards accordingly, the inquest heard. Referee Lucas said that due to its discretionary nature, the standing eight count can be seen to advantage one fighter over another. It appears in some boxing associations’ rules and not others and is not used in all fights.
But counsel assisting the coroner Kristina Stern, SC, highlighted the possibility that participants of boxing contests could be confused about which rules applied in any contest, including to the contest on 11 September 2015, due to the variety of rules.
While the IBF had sanctioned the fight, the NSW Office of Sport identified that the rules of the professional boxing association, the Australian National Boxing Federation (ANBF), applied due to it being a regional fight and not a world title. The inquest was told the ANBF’s website states its rules do not apply in NSW, and a representative from the ANBF said the Combat Sports Authority (CSA) rules were in force that night.
In evidence, referee Charlie Lucas said he had believed CSA rules to apply during the fight, but was later informed that ANBF rules applied.
Anne Gripper, the executive director of sport and recreation at the NSW Office of Sport, said on Thursday in evidence to the inquest that the combat sports rules were never intended to replace the rules of all combat sports but rather to “raise standards where required and fill in gaps where required”. Stern, however, queried whether the plethora of rules and the discrepancies between them argued in favour of having a single set of rules to govern boxing in NSW.
Neither of the combat sports inspectors on duty that evening intervened to stop the fight. Round 11 was also shown to have gone over time, and during those extra seconds, Browne received further heavy blows.
In the break between round 11 and 12, Browne’s corner recognised that their fighter was impaired to the extent that they engaged in a number of stall tactics, including pouring water onto the canvas and loosening tape on Browne’s glove, which would have required additional time between rounds to rectify.
However, Browne’s brother Tommy, who was in his corner that night along with trainer Todd Makelim, also said that they were “pretty caught up” in the fight, and that the “panic” they felt was more about how to get Davey through the final round. “There was one round to go, it was a title fight … we didn’t really think too much about how he was feeling,” Tommy Browne told the inquiry.
Browne was an exceptional boxer, trained by his father in the sport from the age of nine or 10, and had a professional record of 22 wins, one loss and one draw. The event in September 2015 was organised primarily by his father and brother, and, had he won, would have significantly advanced Browne’s opportunities in the sport.
Browne’s father, David Browne Sr, told the coroner: “The referee should definitely have stopped the fight.”
Speaking of the relationship between the cornermen, the referee, the doctor and the timekeeper, Browne Sr said: “If they all were paying a little bit more attention to what their duties were, we certainly wouldn’t be sitting here today talking of Davey.”
In his statement, he described Davey as “a really good kid and my best friend”.
“There was plenty of opportunity to see how bad he was,” Lavelle said. “There was just sign after sign that he wasn’t in a good state and none of it got acted on or acknowledged.”
Browne and Lavelle have two young sons, Rocklyn and Flynn. In a heartfelt and moving statement at the close of the inquest, Lavelle told the court about how difficult she and her young family had found Browne’s loss, and how betrayed she felt by the officials who had been at that fight.
“David was a great role model and ambassador for such a brutal sport, anyone close to him would agree that he had a heart of gold,” Lavelle said. “The very sport he dedicated so much of himself to turned its back on him and left him for dead.”
In her submission to the coroner, Stern called for recommendations around the clarification of the rules, including consideration of a single set of rules for boxing in NSW, along with further training for referees, trainers, and doctors about their roles and duties in boxing contests.
The coroner will hand down her findings on 22 June.
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