NEWS that Nigel Benn at 55 is planning a return to the ring with a fight planned against a former world champion — 40-year-old Sakio Bika — in November marks a tremendously reckless and sad development in a sport that has borne witness to three ring fatalities in recent months. 

It also further contextualises, though not in a good way, the recent criticism levelled at Anthony Joshua’s trainer, Rob McCracken, over comments he made in a recent interview over Joshua’s loss to Andy Ruiz Jnr at the beginning of June. 

Specifically, McCracken revealed that during the fight he knew that Joshua had suffered a concussion but had allowed him to fight on nonetheless.