A 25-year-old man felled by a single punch by a boxer could be left permanently impaired.
Mark McNeill, 23, hit his victim outside a Leven pub just before Christmas, causing the man to fall and strike his head.
He remains in hospital almost 10 weeks on from the attack.
Paramedics found the man lying in the roadway largely unresponsive and he was rushed to Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy.
After surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain the victim was transferred to the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, where he was placed on a ventilator.
He remains in recovery at Cameron Hospital, Windygates.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court procurator fiscal depute Claire Bremner said: “There is a strong possibility he will be left with cognitive impairment.”
McNeill, a prisoner in Perth, admitted assaulting the man and causing him to fall in Branch Street, Leven, on December 22, last year, to his severe injury, permanent impairment and to the danger of his life.
He also admitted acting in a threatening and abusive manner towards his victim’s friend Keith Parker, who he challenged to a fight and chased, and later to struggling violently with police officers in Castle Crescent, Kennoway.
Sentence on McNeill, who was a member of a local boxing club, was deferred for background reports until March 23.
The victim and Mr Parker were in Wallace’s Bar when McNeill began arguing with Mr Parker and challenged him to a fight, which he refused.
As they waited for a taxi outside McNeill approached them again and there was an altercation.
The man’s victim tried to reason with McNeill and the punch was dealt.
Ms Bremner said the 25-year-old was taken to the resuscitation room at Victoria Hospital.
She said: “Surgery was performed to remove a blood clot from his brain and his brain was swollen. His condition was deemed life-threatening.”
The victim’s girlfriend publicly thanked staff at the Western General in a social media post last month for “bringing him back to us”.
