Shane Tuck hasn’t given up on his boxing career and vows to get back in the ringRon Reed
Herald Sun
December 8, 2015 2:05pmA MONTH after his disastrous professional boxing debut resulted in four days in hospital, former Richmond footballer Shane Tuck has resumed training, determined to prove he can become a competent fighter.
But Victorian boxing officials will still have to decide whether they allow him to return to the ring. It will be no surprise if they refuse.
Tuck, 33, who played 173 AFL games between 2004-13, was brutally knocked out by another rookie, Victorian Lucas Miller, in the fourth and final round at the Melbourne Convention Centre on November 11.
The son of AFL games record-holder Michael Tuck was carried out of the ring on a stretcher, still unconscious several minutes after a powerful right to the head ended a contest in which he had already absorbed considerable punishment.
After coming to in the dressing room he was taken by ambulance to The Alfred hospital where doctors refused his daily requests to be allowed to go home.
There were immediate fears Tuck had suffered life-threatening injuries as he laid face-down without moving while ring doctor Peter Lewis called for oxygen.
Speaking about it for the first time, Tuck revealed he should never have gone through with the engagement after copping a heavy hit to the head while sparring 12 days earlier.
“That left me feeling nauseous and crook,” Tuck said.
“I knew I wasn’t right but I felt I could still fight the fight and do well.
“But my trainer from Adelaide, Rod Davies, didn’t even come to Melbourne because he didn’t think I would make it into the ring.
“My main reason was I didn’t want to be an AFL footballer saying he was going to have a fight and then pull out.
“I thought bugger it, regardless of what happens I’m going to go through with it.
“If I had been smart about it I could have pulled out and fought a couple of months later. I completely and utterly stuffed up.
“I never missed a footy game for anything short of a broken bone and I didn’t want to let people down by missing this.”
Tuck’s former teammate Kayne Pettifer had one fight about a year ago, won it, and has not been back for another.
Former Western Bulldogs and Sydney star Barry Hall made a few noises about getting into the ring but never did.
Several high-profile rugby league players have dabbled in it with varying degrees of success.
Tuck, who had only three amateur fights as preparation, has angered the Victorian Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board by not disclosing the training injury.
“We are very annoyed about that,” chairman Bernie Balmer said on Tuesday.
“We will be looking at him extremely carefully before he is allowed to fight again.”
Tuck admits his father is not keen on him going again but says his mother Fay — a sister of the famous footballing Abletts — was happy for him to continue.
Asked why he wanted to, he said: “I love doing it. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I don’t think I’ll be able to sit back and be happy (without another fight.)
“But I’m not going to rush into anything. I’ll take a few months off and next time I’ll do it right, be 100 per cent ready to go.
“Having only ever fought amateurs I underestimated it. The pros are much different. If you go in not right you can get hurt.”
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