Victor Faust has relived a nightmare loss to Lenier Pero after receiving allegations that he gave up against the Cuban heavyweight.
Faust got stopped in eight rounds after dropping Pero and putting the undefeated star in danger. Unbeaten before the contest, Faust was forced to accept a painful defeat in the truest sense of the word.
The native Ukrainian fought in San Antonio, USA, against his strongest opponent. In the beginning, it was a close duel between two gifted boxers.
Heavyweight Pero stops Faust
Past the halfway point, Faust led on the scorecards until a considerable right hit the body of the former European amateur champion. That was all the referee needed to see.
Stopped dead in his tracks, Faust turned away and didn’t defend himself. He was clearly in trouble and took several more punches.
Referee Rafael Ramos, who has been active for over thirty years and has refereed more than 500 fights, had to stop the fight.
After eleven successful bouts, Faust lost his winning streak broke and left the ring as a loser for the first time. But soon after came the allegations that Faust gave up. That he showed no heart. For the man himself, these were bitter allegations.
Now he’s breaking his silence, even though he thinks he doesn’t have to justify himself.
Broken ribs
“The left side of my body was already hurting in round five. But after Pero gave me a solid right on the ribs in the eighth round, severe pain penetrated my body,” explained Faust.
“I couldn’t move anymore. But I could neither raise my arms nor kneel to be counted. I could only turn on the ring ropes.
“But what nobody knew at the time is that Pero had broken three of my ribs!”
Someone who immediately recognized this just a few minutes after Pero’s victory was cutman Tim Kuchenbuch. The 51-year-old from Hamburg is the chief physician for lung surgery in serial rib and sternum fractures.
“After I asked Victor to sit down and he said no, I could feel a crunch when I felt his chest. With injuries like that in front of me every day, I knew immediately that he had broken at least two ribs,” said Kuchenbuch.
The chief physician and senior physician for thoracic surgery requested an X-ray while still in the USA to ensure Faust could start the journey home.
It could have been fatal
Kuchenbuch says if they weren’t careful, Faust could have died on the flight home.
“If the lungs had been damaged, i.e., partially collapsed, the journey could have been fatal in the worst case,” explained the doc.
“The X-ray didn’t show us how bad the fracture was. Rib fractures are only recognizable in this way after a good week.
“Also, the heart shadow is on the left. In Germany, he came to me for an examination, where I diagnosed a triple fracture of the ribs using an ultrasound.”
On the criticism leveled at Faust, the physician added: “It particularly annoyed me that Victor was condemned and sometimes even made fun of.
“He suffered a severe contusion of the lungs due to the fractured ribs. This led to the inability to move. The body couldn’t react, even if Victor wanted to.”
Faust’s promoter Erol Ceylan of EB Boxing, concluded: “The disappointment about the situation and how Victor lost the fight when leading on points was, of course, great at first. But thanks to [Doctor] Tim, we knew Victor didn’t give up because he was in pain and didn’t want to anymore – he just couldn’t!
“We will now work on changing his boxing style. I’m sure that Victor will come back stronger. We’re not writing off our boxer!”
