Boxer Spencer Oliver is winning the most important fight of his life.

Thirty-six hours after a three-hour operation to remove a brain clot sustained in a brutal title fight at the Albert Hall on Saturday night, Barnet's European super-bantamweight champion was taken off a life support machine and said to be out of danger.

The 23-year-old had collapsed in the ring after being knocked out by Ukrainian Sergei Devakov in the 10th round of a pulsating battle.

After receiving emergency treatment in the ring, Oliver was rushed to Charing Cross Hospital, and then transferred to the specialist National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where doctors operated to remove the brain clot.

Said to be in a life-threatening condition, Oliver was put on a life support machine with his fiancee Louise, mother of his two-year-old son Craig, and mother keeping a bedside vigil.

His father Jimmy, who had missed one of Spencer's fights for the first time to take a group of youngsters from Finchley Amateur Boxing Club to Las Vegas, flew back immediately to be with his son.

After the horrific injuries that left fighters Michael Watson and Gerald McLennan crippled, many feared the worst for Oliver, but his renowned fighting spirit seems to have kept him in good stead.

And his huge army of fans and well-wishers around the borough rejoiced at the news on Tuesday that Oliver had been taken off a ventilator and was talking to hospital staff.

"Spencer Oliver is recovering well from the injuries he sustained on Saturday during a contest at the Royal Albert Hall. He has been taken off the ventilator and is starting to talk to medical staff and his family," said a statement from the hospital.

"The risk to his life is now greatly reduced. The prompt action taken at the ringside and the early surgery received have helped to minimise the risk of any lasting damage to the brain.

"Spencer is expected to leave the intensive care unit within the next 24 hours and the process of rehabilitation, to help him recover from his injuries, has already begun."

Oliver will now go through an intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy programme for at least six weeks before he is allowed home.

Hiss manager Jess Harding was elated at the news, saying: "Although I am Spencer's manager and promoter, he was also a best friend to me. Even though Spencer will never box again, he will always remain my best friend and that will never change.

"Spencer's family and friends are with him at this time, and we are expecting him to make a full recovery."

Mr Harding, whose cruiserweight star Chris Henry also suffered serious injuries in the ring, refuted suggestions Oliver had suffered through losing weight before the fight.

"Spencer's team have always had his best interests at heart, and under no circumstances did Spencer have any difficulty in making the weight, how and why this tragedy happened no-one understands, it just did," he said.

"I ask that the family and friends of Spencer are given privacy at this time."

The near tragedy has re-opened a long-running debate on boxing, with the British Medical Association renewing calls for the sport to be banned after the injuries suffered by superfit Oliver.

It is certain that a boxing career which began at the tender age of nine, and looked set to make the Barnet boy recently voted young boxer of the year one of the world's top stars is now over.

But all those who saw the horrific scenes after Oliver's knockout will know it could have been so much more than that.

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