A ringside doctor will receive $385,000 in defamation damages after a newspaper columnist falsely claimed he allowed boxer Danny Green to keep fighting when he had “obvious brain damage”.

In a high-profile bout in 2017 with Anthony Mundine, Green was staggered by a foul blow within the first minute of the bout.

Sydney neurologist Dr John O’Neill performed a 50-second examination for concussion before telling the referee the match could continue. Green subsequently won in a points decision.

But the doctor’s decision was criticised in a newspaper article a week later by Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons, who alleged that Green’s “head was in Zone Red”.