Manu Vatuvei reveals brain cyst diagnosis

Manu Vatuvei has revealed that he had to cut his planned boxing career short after a medical screening before a fight found a cyst in his brain. 

Vatuvei spoke to The New Zealand Herald's Christopher Reive and said that the abrupt halt to his career came just before his debut fight against David 'Brown Buttabean' Letele.

"I've got a cyst in my brain," he reveals to the Herald, "so that's been tough."

"[There were] no symptoms, no nothing … They found it then and tried to rule me out of the fight but I went on with it and came out good."

Vatuvei won his debut by knocking Letele out in the first round of the fight, but the other bouts he had lined up were cancelled because of the discovery.

The 33-year-old says he was told the cyst had likely been there for some time, including while he was still playing rugby league.

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"[There were] no symptoms, no nothing … They found it then and tried to rule me out of the fight but I went on with it and came out good."

Vatuvei won his debut by knocking Letele out in the first round of the fight, but the other bouts he had lined up were cancelled because of the discovery.

The 33-year-old says he was told the cyst had likely been there for some time, including while he was still playing rugby league.

"Right now, I can't do any boxing. But with footy, they said because I must've had it a long time ago, I must have been all good playing. So I'm still deciding from there.

"Hopefully, I hear back from that soon and decide what my future holds."

Manu says that his health is his first and foremost priority and that he's not taking the cyst in his brain lightly.

"I haven't really announced my retirement or anything because I'm still in denial that I can still play. That's something I'm still trying to heal from.

"I've still got some medical things that I've got to look at. Right now my mind and my heart's telling me I can still play but my body's saying no so it's a constant battle at the moment."

This article was originally published at nzherald.co.nz and is reproduced here with permission