Mar. 23, 1963 - Boxer Davey Moore’s chances of survival were described as “less than 50-50” today as the dethroned featherweight champion remained in a coma and barely clung to life at White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles. The 29-year-old fighter, who suffered a brain injury Thursday night during his 10th-round KO loss (pictured) to new champion Sugar Ramos, worsened slightly today. “I am very pessimistic. My personal feeling is that it is a much less than 50-50 chance,” said Dr. Kenneth H. Abbott, one of a team of three brain specialists watching over Moore. Dr. Abbott said the injury was to the “front stem” of the brain that controls the center of consciousness and the voluntary use of arms, legs, and eyes. He said analysis indicates Moore is suffering from a bruise in a small area at the base of the brain, roughly an inch in diameter. The damage apparently resulted from a fall rather than from a punch or punches, and it probably occurred when Moore struck the back of his neck on the lower ring rope in the 10th round. Such bruises to the brain do not swell immediately, and this explains why Moore did not lapse into a coma for nearly an hour after the conclusion of the fight. Moore left the ring under his own power, fainting later in his dressing room. Surgery was not performed and is not being contemplated because there was no hemorrhage or clot. Moore’s wife Geraldine, who never saw him box in a 10-year career of 66 fights, remains at his side at the hospital. “He’ll make it, Willie — I know he will,” she told manager Willie Ketchum. “Davey has done well during his career,” she said. “This was God’s will to make him stop fighting.”
