'Scariest thing ever': Jeff Fenech was 'hours away from dying'
Australian boxing legend Jeff Fenech hopes his routine will finally be back to normal by next week after enduring the scariest time of his life.
The boxing trainer and former three-division world champion underwent major surgery on a blocked heart valve in a Bangkok hospital last month.
"When I think of it now it's maybe the scariest thing ever," Fenech told AAP on Tuesday.
Aussie boxing great Jeff Fenech has emerged from successful lifesaving surgery in Bangkok. 5 hours to replace infected heart valve and drain lung fluid. Beautiful moment when his three children flew in and made it to see him just 10 minutes before surgery. pic.twitter.com/Qv9zuTgWat
— Renae Henry (@renaehenry9) October 8, 2019
"I didn't know that I was a couple of hours away from dying.
"The rest of the boys got an ambulance, I don't remember it, but the ambulance took me to the hospital and they saved my life."
Among the team in Thailand for a training camp was super welterweight Jack Brubaker, who fights world-ranked Tim Tszyu in Sydney on Friday week.
Fenech has been hooked up to a 24-hour drip, which is scheduled to be removed next Tuesday.
"Then I'll hopefully be back to normal, back doing what I used to do prior to getting sick," he said.
"I get this (the drip) off on the third (of December) and I'll be putting him (Brubaker) through pad work for the last two days," Fenech said.
Brubaker said he was motivated to win the fight as much for Fenech as for himself.
He joined Fenech's team a few weeks before travelling to Thailand.
Brubaker is renowned for his all-action aggressive come forward style, but Fenech said that wouldn't be enough to beat Tszyu,
""We've got to make (Tszyu's) punches miss, before we get in," Fenech said.
"We can't get hit on the way in, Tim is too sharp, much bigger.
We've got a plan. It's nothing out of the ordinary, Jack has got to have his hands up high and make those punches miss and then work like he does.
"I think I've improved him as a body puncher, I think I've improved him as a hooker, all his punches have improved in power because he's using his feet and sitting down."
