It was the first defeat of his professional boxing career but Ludumo Lamati was about to face the biggest battle of his life.
The South African was facing Nick Ball in Belfast for the WBC Silver featherweight title in May last year.
For three rounds it had been a standard, competitive bout but what followed next led to Lamati being nicknamed the ‘miracle man’ – and with good reason.
In the fourth round Lamati was caught by Ball behind his ear and he knew something wasn’t right.
He would reach the 12th round and remained in the fight but his corner threw in the towel inside the final minute.
That was a decision that saved his life. Lamati collapsed in the ring and the next thing he remembers is waking up in Belfast Royal Hospital with a significant portion of his skull in his abdomen.
The 31-year-old would return to his homeland after spending just under two months recovering in Northern Ireland.
Lamati had been placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a stroke in the ring, which had led to his collapse.
The decision to remove a section of his skull was to relieve the pressure from the bleed in his brain. It was kept in his abdomen to preserve it and was eventually re-attached once he was fit enough to recover.
Lamati now has a scar that runs the length of his head, from the top of his forehead down to his ear. He says he carries it “with pride”.
It’s a reminder of that horrific incident in Belfast but also a sign of how lucky he is to still be alive.
“Even when I explain to people about what happened, it’s hard to understand,” Lamati told BBC Sport NI.
“I had a stroke and that was it – lights out.
“They had to take half of my skull and put it in my stomach – just listening to that, can you hear how that sounds?
“I was like a pregnant woman, I know how they feel.
“Those doctors are good, man. I owe those people my life.”
‘Dude, can you see what’s happening to your head?’
Once the section of his skull was restored, the membrane grew back, meaning he avoided needing clips to keep it in place.
His speech and brain functions were also unaffected, which led doctors giving him his new nickname.
“They call me a miracle man for that. I was supposed to have clippers in my head once the operation was done because they have to put everything back.
“So it’s stuck together instead of being clipped. After four or five years, I would have had to go and check the head and take the clippers out.
“I was very lucky to come out with no speech problems or IQ problems.
“I feel like I’m better. I thought the situation blinded me but now it grows me and I see life differently.
“To come out of that, I’m still here for a reason and I want to find out what that reason is.”
While recovering in Belfast, Lamati says he was well looked after by the local boxing community, including Carl Frampton and the Conlan family.
His bout with Ball was taking place on the undercard of Michael Conlan’s fight with Luis Alberto Lopez at the SSE Arena and, although he didn’t realise it at the time, Belfast was about to become his second home.
His now wife Chay Sias and mother Joyce were flown over to Belfast to be there for his recovery, and Lamati thanks Stephen Nelson and his family for being so hospitable during the trying time.
“I remember when I woke up on the seventh day or whenever it was, as I can’t remember, and I’m trying to find out who I am,” Lamati added.
“I asked what happened in the fight. I knew there was something wrong.
“I was drunk with medicine. I still remember some of the things I was talking about.
“I was talking to Carl about coming back and boxing, telling him I want to fight.
“He was like, ‘Dude! Do you see what’s happening to your head?’”
He said despite being hurt in another country and staying with people he didn’t know, he didn’t feel like he was with strangers.
‘You don’t know when you are hurt’
Unsurprisingly after the severity of his surgery, Lamati has been forced to hang up his gloves. The only defeat of his pro career turned out to be his last, but he says it has been a “nice ride”.
However, he is still involved in the sport he loves – he had been boxing from the age of eight – and owns a gym and is doing more promotion work in South Africa.
Lamati says it is now a dream to be able to promote a fight in Belfast, the city which has given him so much when he least expected it.
“Physically I’m keeping good and mentally I’m good. I’m just aligning, I’m getting better and taking it day by day.
“Sometimes things don’t go the way you planned and then you have to get on with your plan B.”
He also intends to return to Belfast to see those who helped him and his family, both medically and through support, who he says are “very good people”.
Lamati, who visits former MMA fighter-turned-psychiatrist Daniella Eliasov to “keep my brain sharp”, admits he was always aware of the dangers of the sport, but says boxers are “conditioned” to try to deal with pain.
“You don’t know when to stop and you don’t know when you are hurt,” he added.
“When you get hit in the back of the head you lose balance and you get weak. The brain gets a shock.
“You keep going and going to try and find a way, you have to dig deep. You will do that any time.
“My psychiatrist said I was still fighting when I was in my coma. They even wrote I wasn’t allowed to get up and walk because I would have got up and gone out of the hospital.
“Half of my skull was in my stomach but I didn’t think it was an injury. When I think about it now, it wasn’t normal. It was a miracle.”
