Russian heavyweight boxer Denis Boitsov has been put into an induced coma after he was discovered in a German subway tunnel with severe head injuries, news reports said.
A police report confirmed a 29-year-old man was discovered last week by a subway train driver on the tracks between Berlin's Bismarckstrasse and Wilmersdorfer Strasse subway stations. German and Russian news reports have since named the man as Boitsov.
It remains unclear how the heavyweight boxer received his injuries, though police concluded that he was in an intoxicated state when he was discovered, Hamburger Abendblatt reported.
Boitsov, who lives in the German city of Hamburg, was taken to a hospital in Berlin where he was put into an induced coma to reduce the swelling of his brain injuries, the report said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Dennis [Boitsov] and his family. We hope that he will recover," his promoter Kalle Sauerland was cited as saying Monday by Russia's R-Sport web site.
The boxer, who hails from the city of Oryol in southern Russia, turned professional in 2004 and has won 35 of his 36 bouts, including 26 by knockout.
His wife Olga Boitsova told the TASS news agency that she is due to give birth in four weeks time.
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