Hardcore fight fans were in a bit of a panic as bantamweight standout Fernando Montiel was involved in a motorcycle mishap over the weekend in Mexico. Various reports had his injuries from being just bumps and bruises to his leg getting bent like Joe Theismann’s after being sacked by Lawrence Taylor back in 1985. What wasn’t known was the exact severity of the damage to his leg and if his February showdown with Nonito Donaire was in jeopardy.
Thankfully, Montiel’s injuries were relatively minor in nature (fightnews.com/montiel).
When reached at his offices in Las Vegas on Tuesday, promoter Bob Arum told Maxboxing, “From everything I’ve been told, it’s not fractured and he’ll be back in the gym in three weeks.” This means the Montiel-Donaire fight is a go. “Yeah, based on what I’ve heard, absolutely,” Arum confirmed.
While Montiel’s case was a freak accident, it got me thinking; in other sports, athletes are bound to stay away from any type of activities that would endanger their health and safety in an unusual manner. It makes sense; if organizations are going to invest millions of dollars in somebody, it doesn’t seem all that obtrusive to ask these performers to stay away from such things as riding on a motorcycle, wrestling alligators or bears or skydiving.
In recent years, we’ve seen high-profile athletes like Jeff Kent (who tried to lie his way out of a motorcycle spill by saying he fell off his pickup truck while giving it a cleaning) and Kellen Winslow Jr., who went all Evel K
