A BOXING legend has received a substantial payout after a screening company failed to spot a potentially fatal brain aneurysm .

Dudley's Darren McDermott was sparring with the former world light-heavyweight champion boxer Nathan Cleverly when a blow to the head ruptured the undetected aneurysm in 2010.

Just five months before, the Black Country Bodysnatcher was given the ‘all clear’ and re-licensed to box, following his British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) mandated annual medical and MRI scan.

After he underwent emergency surgery to stem a bleed on his brain, Darren, a former British middleweight champion, who had won 17 of his 20 fights, was forced to retire.

The 39-year-old instructed specialist medical negligence lawyers Irwin Mitchell to investigate whether the pre-existing aneurysm should have been detected during routine testing.

InHealth Ltd, the company appointed by the BBBoC to manage the process of obtaining and checking all professional boxers’ MRI scans for re-licensing purposes, has now admitted liability for Darren’s injuries.

The company accepted its own MRI protocol did not include certain types of additional scans which should have been taken for all professional boxers.

It also accepted that, had the protocol included these additional scans, Darren’s aneurysm would likely have been detected, his licence revoked and his brain injury avoided.

Darren said: “I leant over to land a punch and Nathan hit me on the top of the head. When I was hit, the feeling was not like any other sensation I had experienced before. I knew something was wrong immediately.

“As I sat at home after my surgery, everything that had happened slowly started to dawn on me. I had to accept that I wouldn’t be able to fight again and that my boxing career was over. I felt like I had changed as a person overnight.

“I am so grateful to the hospital staff for saving my life but the last eight years have been a real struggle as my family tried to come to terms with how our lives had changed."

He continued: “I hold nothing against Nathan, he is blameless in this. I should not have been put at risk by being allowed to continue fighting.

“InHealth’s admission is a major milestone in my recovery. It has given my family renewed strength to look to the future rather than dwell on the past.

“We take some comfort from the fact that my injury lead to InHealth changing their Professional Boxers’ MRI protocol and they now carry out additional MRI scans for all professional boxers, which should help to pick up small bleeds on the brain like the one I had and was missed.

"Whilst it is too little too late for me, I am thankful that some good has come of what happened to me and that the sport at the highest level is now that little bit safer.

“I will always be a stronger supporter of the sport and the safety of fighters is always paramount.”

The settlement money will help pay for specialist support and rehabilitation the father-of-two now requires.

He has been left with acute short-term memory loss, difficulty with controlling emotions and struggles with work following his injury.

Darren, who set up the Brooklands Amateur Boxing Club in Woodsetton following his retirement, said his wife Claire now doubled up as his personal assistant, adding: " I struggle with everyday tasks such as remembering where I have left my car, constantly losing things and even what colour my toothbrush is."

Claire added: “Darren knows that he would have always had to retire from boxing had his aneurysm been identified on his last boxing fitness MRI scan, but it would have been much less traumatic for him to cope with as he wouldn’t have the shock of the haemorrhage, the surgery and the symptoms of his brain injury he now lives with, which are a daily reminder of what happened to him.

“The love me and Darren have for each other has helped get us through the last few years. We just hope InHealth learns lessons and continues to carefully review their protocols so other families don’t have to suffer like we have.”