By Terence Dooley

Sky Sport's Adam Smith announced on the station's Ringside show that Dudley's Darren McDermott is making a strong recovery after undergoing brain surgery at the weekend, the former English middleweight champion is on the mend but will now retire from the sport of boxing.

McDermott was due to challenge Paul Smith for the British super-middleweight title on October 23rd.  The 'Black Country Body Snatcher' is a tall, 6' 1'', stylist and was 14-0-1 going into 2008's British title clash with then-holder Wayne Elcock.  McDermott started brightly but was badly cut under the left cheek, a clash of heads caused the injury, leading Elcock to win by second round TKO under the old BBBoC 'injury stoppage' ruling.  It was a bitter blow for McDermott, who had showed plenty of title winning potential in the early going.

A fourth round loss to Darren Barker for the Londoner's Commonwealth title saw McDermott again stopped in controversial circumstances, the boxer was floored by a right hand but observed the count of referee Dave Parris only to be counted out in the act of rising.  McDermott felt that he could have continued and he proved a point by bouncing back in his very next fight, a points win over Danny Butler for the English belt.

Darren battled through cuts in the Butler fight, flooring his man in the fifth round with a right uppercut en route to a 96-95 decision.  Though an underdog when the Smith fight was announced, McDermott was seen as a good, solid foil for the Liverpudlian, who has wished Darren well in his journey back to full health.

The well-supported boxer retires with a 17-2-1 (9) slate, he also picked up the British Masters middleweight title and the BBBoC Midlands Area title; the 32-year-old has his own gym, his experience and boxing brain will hopefully find another way to express itself down the line.  BoxingScene wishes him well in coming months and years.

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