A CARLISLE boxer has given up the sport he loves after an associate subjected him to an assault so serious that he had to be put into an induced coma.

The city’s crown court was told that the victim could previously earn as much as £5,000 for a single fight – but the serious facial injuries he sustained at the hands of 30-year-old Mark Malloy have made returning to boxing too risky.

Malloy was charged with intentionally causing the man grievous bodily harm.

But the prosecution accepted his guilty plea to the less serious allegation of inflicting grievous bodily harm. Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined the facts.

The victim visited a friend at Stanhope Road, Carlisle, on the evening of April 8, spending the evening there without incident. At some stage, Malloy, formerly of Dalton Avenue, Raffles, joined them.

The man recalled leaving the house to visit another friend to pick up some tobacco and Malloy went with him.

“Mr Malloy was wobbling and appeared unsteady on his feet,” said Mr Rogerson. “His speech was also slurred and there was a blue substance around Mr Malloy’s lips.”

The victim said that, from past experience, he believed the blue substance indicated the defendant had taken Valium.

They returned to the house in Stanhope Road and continued “chilling.” The next morning, said the man, he woke and saw Malloy at the back door, arguing with somebody.

He was unsure whether the other person was physically there or speaking to Malloy over the phone. After getting a drink from the kitchen sink, the man turned around, he said, and Malloy was swinging his fist into his face.

The next thing he recalled was being on the floor and seeing Malloy on top of him. “I must have blacked out,” said the man. His next memory was waking up in hospital, where a nurse told him he had been in an induced coma.

A tube had been put into his airway.

His injuries included extensive facial bruising and fractures to some facial bones, including those around his left eye. In an impact statement, the man said the attack affected him severely, undermining his confidence.

“I can’t even go to the gym now to do my boxing,” he said. “I’m out of breath. Boxing was my thing; that’s how I used to make my money.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do boxing again because if I get hit in the face I could be seriously injured after those fractures. I used to be fit… I struggle to walk and feel like an old man. I’m waiting to find out if I need further surgery.”

He spoke of suffering blurred vision and how he had he had been getting fight opportunities, which allowed him to make £5,000 "in minutes.”

A woman who saw Malloy that night said he and the victim had been arguing and the other man had “squared up to” the defendant. “I knew something was going to happen,” she said, describing Malloy’s face as “angry and red.”

The defendant’s criminal record included ten previous offences of violence.

Kim Whittlestone, defending, said the victim had engaged in fights published as videos on YouTube. There was evidence suggesting the assault was “excess of self-defence,” she said.

Malloy had unstable personality disorder and there were personal matters in his background, which led to him consuming excess alcohol and offending.

She spoke of a family tragedy when the defendant’s sister was seriously injured crossing a road. “As a result, she now needs full time care,” said Miss Whittlestone.

“Before this, her partner had just passed away. There has been a lot of emotional turmoil. The defendant is the first to admit that he does not handle emotional situations well.”

Judge Michael Fanning recognised that Malloy faced traumas in his life but on the morning of the offence he was “seriously drunk.” He noted that a witness had suggested the two men were squaring up to each other.

The judge also accepted that the offence was committed on the spur of the moment. He jailed Malloy for two years. As he left the prison video, the defendant thanked the judge.