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Heavyweight Abdusalamov placed back on life support

Magomed Abdusalamov lost to Mike Perez by unanimous decision © Getty Images

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Heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov has been placed back on a life support machine and returned to a medically induced coma by doctors after his temperature rose to 103 degrees.

It appeared as though Abdusalamov's condition was beginning to improve on Thursday when he began breathing on his own and was removed from life support before doctors took him out of a medically induced coma on Friday.

But a few hours after being roused from the coma, Abdusalamov took a turn for the worse.

"His temperature shot up to 103, so his body wasn't ready yet (to come out of the coma), so they put him back on life support and (into) the medically induced coma," his promoter Nathan Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing told ESPN. "Terrible setback. No clue when they are trying to bring him out again."

The 32-year-old Abdusalamov, a married father of three young daughters, has been at Roosevelt Hospital in New York since November 2, when he suffered a brain injury and had subsequent surgery to remove a blood clot after losing a 10-round unanimous decision to Mike Perez in a brutal slugfest in an HBO-televised fight at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Doctors thought that Abdusalamov, who suffered a stroke shortly after he was initially put into a coma, was going to die. But he eventually began to show signs of improvement before this latest setback. He had been put into the medically induced coma as a way to give the swelling in his brain time to subside.

Abdusalamov suffered superficial injuries during the fight, including a broken nose, broken hand, cuts and bruises. But when he began to have a headache and vomited after the bout, his team took him to the hospital. After arriving at the hospital, he had a CT scan, which revealed the blood clot, and he was rushed into surgery.

The Abdusalamov camp has raised questions about whether the New York State Athletic Commission properly examined him after the fight, and the New York State Inspector General is investigating the situation, according to the New York Daily News.

This article originally appeared on ESPN.com
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