You know how it is: you’re preparing for the boxing fight that you assume will get your career back on track. Training has gone well, you’re feeling good and you are confident of securing victory.
And then somebody comes along and drops a massive ornament on your hand.
Carl Frampton was in the latter stages of his preparations for a welterweight contest with Emmanuel Dominguez when the accident occurred – the weight of the ornament breaking a bone in his hand after it fell on him.
Imagine the frustration that the Irishman must be feeling, His loss to Josh Warrington in December looked to have ended his career – Frampton himself admitted he had considered retirement, but he found some hunger inside and instead signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank.
Then the freak incident occurred, with the 32-year-old claiming that it’s a good job the ornament landed on his hand and not his head as he would have been killed.
“It was absolutely bizarre, you couldn’t write it,” Frampton said.
The good news, as if there were any, is that he is not alone in the pantheon of bizarre sporting injuries. Indeed, compared to some of this lot his is downright mundane.
Beasant Gets Saucy
Are you a ketchup, brown sauce or mayo kind of person?
Former Wimbledon and Southampton goalkeeper Dave Beasant preferred the milder temptation of salad cream on his butties, but he must have wished he hadn’t bothered after suffering an injury during the 1993/94 season.
Enjoying a nice bit of grub, Beasant dropped the glass bottle of salad cream on his feet. Clumsy yes, painful definitely: it severed a tendon in his big toe, and he was sidelined for eight weeks as a result.
Sosa’s Sniffles Get Right Up His Nose
Hayfever sufferers rejoice: even professional sportsmen and women suffer from the horrendous condition.
Indeed, some suffer so badly from a pollinated schnozz that they suffer season-defining injuries as a result.
Sammy Sosa was a star for the Chicago Cubs in the early 2000s, and he too was blighted by the misery of hayfever.
Except, well, his had more damaging consequences: he sneezed, not once but twice, and suffered back spasms and a strained ligament that was so painful he needed an epidural to ease the pain.
That’s certainly an injury not to be sniffed at….
Batty’s Achilles Heel
On the pitch, David Batty was known as something of a midfield hardman in his adventures for Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and England – he once got into a scrap with his own teammate in Graeme Le Saux.
Off it, he was a renowned family man with a wife and children.
It was one of these kids that would – thankfully for this column – be responsible for one of the most unlikely injuries in sport.
Playing the dutiful dad, Batty was teaching his toddler how to ride a tricycle. Turning his back for a split second, his toddler worked out how to work their toy – running Daddy’s foot over and causing an achilles injury that kept him on the sidelines for a number of weeks.
Baldwin’s Tangle with the King of the Jungle
What are the key assets of a rugby player?
They can have an excellent tactical brain, or a left foot like a traction engine such as Jonny Wilkinson.
But it’s all about the hands as far as rugby pros are concerned, and for the Welsh hooker Scott Baldwin that nearly became a major problem given that he nearly lost one of his while on a safari.
Having gotten up and close and personal with a lion in South Africa, Baldwin – as you do – decided to stroke the glorious creature’s mane.
You can probably guess the rest, and the subsequent bite left the Welshman needing four stitches. He only missed one game for his club side, but he could have been left missing a major limb on another day.
Vassell’s Unconventional Logic
If you cast your mind back to the early 2000s you might just recall Darius Vassell, the pacey former Aston Villa and England striker.
A good player he certainly was, but Vassell was not known for his cognitive powers. And that’s perhaps why he tried to pop a blood blister underneath his toe using a power tool.
The frontman used the drill to open up his toenail and release the pressure of the blister, but- predictably – this then became infected and he was forced to miss a number of games in the 2002/03 campaign.
Eaton’s Playing with Knives
Does anyone still buy DVDs?
They did back in 2001 anyway, when they would be sold in that tight shrink-wrap packaging that was a nightmare to get off.
When Adam Eaton was preparing for a long away trip with the San Diego Padres, he treated himself to a film to watch on the journey.
But unable to open the wrapper, he went into the kitchen and pulled a knife from the drawer.
You can probably guess the rest….yes, Eaton managed to stab himself in the stomach while opening the DVD.
He missed his team’s next game, so let’s hope the movie was worth it.
Coghlan Gets Pied
One of the attributes of a strong team in any sport is morale.
Usually, the best teams have a unique bond that ties the players together, making them want to try their absolute best in good times and bad.
To help with that team aesthetic, players will often play pranks on one another….with mixed results.
When Wes Helms achieved a walk-off hit for the Miami Marlins, he would have known that some big celebrations were coming his way.
Step forward Chris Coghlan, who wanted to share his love for his good buddy by hitting him with a shaving cream pie.
However, the trick backfired as after throwing said pie Coghlan landed funny, twisting his knee and tearing his meniscus. He would miss the final ten weeks of the 2010 season as a result.
Barmes’ Game Over
In 2005, Clint Barmes was one of the hottest young prospects in baseball.
He was tearing it up for the Colorado Rockies, and to celebrate his good form his close friend Todd Helton gave him a bag of venison to enjoy (as you do).
The bag must have had quite a few steaks in it, though, as its weight caused Barmes to tumble down a flight of stairs while carrying it.
That would go down as one of the funniest injuries in sport, had the leader of the National League rookie of the year honours not suffered issues so bad that he needed a titanium plate fitted into his collarbone and several surgical screws implanted.
Barmes would never recapture his form, and he was never the same player again. It’s enough to turn you vegan.