Spencer Oliver never had to wage war with the scales before last Saturday's tragic fight against Sergei Devakov. Oliver's manager Jess Harding yesterday discounted speculation that his European super-bantamweight champion had trouble making the 8 stone, 10lb limit.

While Oliver was staging a comeback from a brain operation following his shocking 10th-round stoppage at the Royal Albert Hall, Harding stressed: "Spencer's team have always had his best interests at heart and under no circumstances did Spencer have any difficulty in making the weight. How and why the tragedy happened, no-one understands, it just did."

In the build-up to the bout, Oliver admitted it was not easy making the championship limit. But most title-class fighters will say the same, and Oliver was not planning to move up to the featherweight division for another year.

Indeed, WBO super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe recently suggested the same, and is beginning to consider the day when he progresses to light-heavy.

Drastic weight-making leads to dehydration, increasing the risk of brain injury, especially in the later stages of a bout when fighters begin to tire. It is of paramount importance that fighters shed the necessary pounds and ounces in a controlled, steady manner.

For the moment, though, the most vital thing is what happens in the future for Oliver - not what happened in the recent, horrific past. Oliver's family are expecting him to make a full recovery, as Liverpool's Carl Wright did after undergoing brain surgery after his British light-welterweight title fight against Mark Winters last October.

Oliver has been taken off a ventilator and is starting to talk to medical staff and his family.

The European Boxing Union have already ordered 30-year-old Ukranian Devakov to make his first title defence against Manchester's British champion Michael Brodie.

That was just a matter of automatic procedure, as Brodie was the leading contender for Oliver's EBU title.

Indeed, Oliver versus Brodie would have been one of the best British matches waiting to be made within the coming year.

The exciting Oliver had a bright career ahead of him and British boxing needed a young character of his vibrance and ability. Meanwhile, British boxing chiefs have pledged a review of their safety system following the injuries sustained by Oliver. The Board of Control will this week be calling for reports on the fight.

Board secretary John Morris said: "We will not make any knee-jerk reaction but every aspect of our medical and safety procedures will be reviewed."

The board has consistently overhauled their medical procedures ever since the ill-fated Chris Eubank-Michael Watson fight in 1991.