List of deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing

The following is a list of deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing. In February 1995, it was estimated that "approximately 500 boxers have died in the ring or as a result of boxing since the Marquess of Queensberry Rules were introduced in 1884."[1] 22 boxers died in 1953 alone.[1]

Date of fight	Name	Nationality	Opponent	Opponent's nationality	Details
13 Dec 1926	Daniel Marshall	United Kingdom	Joshua Lloyd-Doyle	United Kingdom	Died one day following his first professional fight due to injuries sustained.
25 Aug 1930	Frankie Campbell	United States	Max Baer	United States	Campbell was knocked unconscious in the ring and died hours later in the hospital. Doctors discovered that his brain had been knocked loose from the connective tissue inside his head.
10 Feb 1933	Ernie Schaaf	United States	Primo Carnera	Italy	Suffered a knockout loss in the 13th round and immediately fell unconscious. He would go into a coma, and was rushed to the hospital to undergo surgery where he ultimately died four days later on Valentine's Day.[2]
16 Jul 1940	Peter Asero	United States	Pete Muscarnera	United States	Seemingly on his way to victory by knocking out Muscarnera to the count of nine in the first round, Asero suffered a knockout in the fourth round. He never revived. Heart attack was given as the cause of death by the Athletic Commission.[3]
24 Jun 1947	Jimmy Doyle	United States	Sugar Ray Robinson	United States	Died 17 hours after being knocked out.[1]
2 Feb 1948	Sam Baroudi	United States	Ezzard Charles	United States	Killed by a punch from a future heavyweight champion.
19 Sep 1949	Archie Kemp	Australia	Jack Hassen	Australia	Kemp was carried from the ring on a stretcher and did not regain consciousness, dying of a cerebral haemorrhage. Referee Joe Wallis refused to stop the fight.[4]
22 Feb 1950	Lavern Roach	United States	Georgie Small	United States	Lavern sustained a fatal head injury during the match and died the next day due to a subdural hemorrhage.[5]
20 Dec 1950	Sonny Boy West	United States	Percy Bassett	United States	West suffered from inter-cerebral hemorrhage resulting from a cerebral concussion and died the following day.[6]
12 Dec 1954	Ed Sanders	United States	Willie James	United States	Complained of headaches early in the day. Lost consciousness in the 11th round. Died after a long surgery to relieve bleeding in the brain.[7]
24 Mar 1962	Benny Paret	United States	Emile Griffith	United States	See Benny Paret vs. Emile Griffith III; Paret died of brain injuries 10 days later.[1][8]
21 Mar 1963	Davey Moore	United States	Sugar Ramos	Mexico	Moore collapsed in the dressing room after the fight, and died 75 hours later.[1][8]
11 Mar 1969	Ulrich Regis	Trinidad and Tobago	Joe Bugner	United Kingdom	Regis died four days after the fight following surgery to remove a blood clot.[1][8]
2 Feb 1972	Mick Pinkney	United Kingdom	Jim Moore	United Kingdom	Pinkney was knocked out in the fifth round and died after choking on his own blood.[1]
19 Jul 1978	Angelo Jacopucci	Italy	Alan Minter	United Kingdom	Jacopucci did not collapse in the ring; he and Minter met for a meal after the fight. Jacopucci then fell into a coma and died.[9] As a result of this, European title fights were limited to 12 rounds.[1][8]
23 Nov 1979	Willie Claasen	United States	Wilford Scypion	United States	Died following the fight.[1][8]
9 Jan 1980	Charles Newell	United States	Marlon Starling	United States	Died after being knocked out in the 7th round.[8]
20 Jun 1980	Cleveland Denny	Guyana	Gaétan Hart	Canada	Died 16 days after being knocked out.[8]
19 Sep 1980	Johnny Owen	United Kingdom	Lupe Pintor	Mexico	Owen was knocked out and died six weeks later without regaining consciousness.[1][8]
7 May 1982	Andy Balaba	Philippines	Hi-Sup Shin	South Korea	Died of injuries suffered in the fight.[8]
14 Jun 1982	Young Ali	Nigeria	Barry McGuigan	Ireland	Collapsed in the ring, fell into a coma, and died from a blood clot two days later.[9][8]
13 Nov 1982	Kim Duk-koo	South Korea	Ray Mancini	United States	Kim died four days after the fight. As a result of this, world championship fights were limited to 12 rounds.[1][8]
1 Sep 1983	Francisco Bejines	Mexico	Alberto Dávila	United States	Died of brain injuries.[1][8]
29 May 1985	Shawn Thomas	United States	Chris Calvin	United States	Died of head injuries.[1][8]
2 Nov 1985	Jacob Morake	South Africa	Brian Mitchell	South Africa	Died of head injuries.[1][8]
29 Nov 1985	Gerardo Derbez	Mexico	Jorge Vaca	Mexico	Knocked out and fell into a coma; died from brain injuries.[1][8]
14 Mar 1986	Steve Watt	United Kingdom	Rocky Kelly	United Kingdom	Died of brain injuries.[1][8]
27 Feb 1987	Jean-Claude Vinci	France	Lionel Jean	France	Vinci lost the fight on points, and died 30 minutes later.[1][8]
14 Jun 1988	Brian Baronet	South Africa	Kenny Vice	United States	Fell into a coma after being knocked out and died 3 days later.[1][8]
13 Aug 1988	Daniel Thetele	South Africa	Aaron Williams	South Africa	Collapsed without regaining consciousness and died.[1][8]
4 Mar 1989	David Thio	Ivory Coast	Terrence Alli	United States	Knocked out and died 10 days later.[1][8]
17 Aug 1990	Pat Stone	Australia	Gary Wills	Australia	Died of brain injuries the day after the fight.[1]
27 May 1991	Patrick Mdiniso	South Africa	Mongezi Mbadu	South Africa	Died after being knocked unconscious.[1][10]
17 Nov 1991	Clive Sikwebu	South Africa	Ndoda Mayende	South Africa	Died nine days after being knocked out.[1][10]
1 Dec 1991	Minoru Katsumata	Japan	Takashi Murata	Japan	Died after being knocked out in the 10th round.[1] It was his first professional fight.[11]
20 Dec 1991	David Ellis	Chile	Abdenago Jofré	Chile	Ellis collapsed in the final round and died 9 days after.[12]
26 Apr 1994	Bradley Stone	United Kingdom	Richie Wenton	United Kingdom	Died from a blood clot.[1][9][8]
22 Jul 1994	Robert Wangila	Kenya	David Gonzalez	United States	Died after an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain.[1][8]
6 May 1995	Jimmy Garcia	Colombia	Gabriel Ruelas	Mexico	Died 13 days later, due to a blood clot on the brain.[8]
13 Oct 1995	James Murray	United Kingdom	Drew Docherty	United Kingdom	Murray collapsed in the final round and died on the 15th October 1995.[9][8]
13 Dec 1997	Felix Bwalya	Zambia	Paul Burke	United Kingdom	Was knocked down three times in the final rounds; died 9 days later.[8]
12 Sep 1999	Randie Carver	United States	Kabary Salem	Egypt	Carver was headbutted repeatedly during the early rounds. He lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital. Carver died two days later from blunt head trauma.[13]
20 Oct 2000	Bobby Tomasello	United States	Steve Dotse	Ghana	Tomasello collapsed in his dressing room after a 10-round draw. He fell into a coma from which he never awoke, dying five days later.[14]
23 Jun 2002	Pedro Alcázar	Panama	Fernando Montiel	Mexico	Alcazar was declared healthy by ringside doctors, with no visible signs of any trauma. Collapsed in his hotel room the following day and died in hospital.[15]
18 Jul 2003	Brad Rone	United States	Billy Zumbrun	United States	He turned around to walk to his corner following the 1st round when he collapsed, dying instantly. An autopsy later revealed Rone had died of a heart attack.[16]
1 Jul 2005	Martín Sánchez	Mexico	Rustam Nugaev	Russia	After the fight, a commission inspector noticed Sánchez walking strangely, he was rushed to a local hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a subdural hematoma. He died the following morning.[17]
17 Sep 2005	Leavander Johnson	United States	Jesús Chávez	Mexico	Johnson collapsed in the locker room following the fight and was taken to hospital where he was placed in a medically induced coma following surgery to correct a subdural hematoma. He died on 22 September 2005 [18]
18 Mar 2006	Kevin Payne	United States	Ryan Maraldo	United States	Payne died the following day following surgery after suffering a brain injury during the fight.[19]
31 Mar 2007	Lito Sisnorio	Philippines	Chatchai Sasakul	Thailand	Sustained brain injuries during the fight and died the next day in hospital. The fight was deemed controversial as Sisnorio's role in the fight was not officially sanctioned by the Philippine Games and Amusement Board.[20]
25 Dec 2007	Choi Yo-sam	South Korea	Heri Amol	Indonesia	He collapsed while still in the ring after the bout and was rushed to the Soonchunhyang University Hospital immediately after the fight in order to undergo emergency brain surgery. He died on 3 January 2008 after being removed from his ventilator.[21]
15 Oct 2008	Daniel Aguillon	Mexico	Alejandro Sanabria	Mexico	Aguillón was punched in the jaw in the last minute of the 12th round of the super featherweight bout for the Central American title by his opponent Sanabria, he fell unconscious on the floor and was taken to a hospital, but never recovered.[22]
30 Apr 2009	Benjamín Flores	Mexico	Al Seeger	United States	Flores suffered a brain injury during the fight. He died from his injuries on 5 May 2009 [23]
18 Jul 2009	Marco Antonio Nazareth	Mexico	Omar Chávez	Mexico	Nazareth collapsed in the ring and had to be taken to the local hospital where he underwent a three-hour surgery to treat a cerebral hemorrhage. He died four days later.[24]
20 Nov 2009	Francisco Rodriguez	Mexico	Teon Kennedy	United States	Rodríguez immediately collapsed, losing consciousness while waiting for an official decision. He was rushed to a hospital for emergency brain surgery and died 2 days later.[25]
5 Dec 2011	Roman Simakov	Russia	Sergey Kovalev (boxer)	Russia	Simakov died of brain injuries after collapsing in the ring.[26]
31 Mar 2012	Muhammad Afrizal	Indonesia	Irvan Barita Marbun	Indonesia	Afrizal began vomiting an hour after the bout and fell unconscious with a hemorrhage and died four days after brain surgery to remove a blood clot.[27]
17 Jul 2012	Bae Ki-suk	South Korea	Jung Jin-ki	South Korea	Bae underwent five hours of brain surgery following the fight. After the operation, his body temperature, blood pressure and pulse returned to almost normal, but he remained unconscious and died four days after the bout.
20 Dec 2013	Tesshin Okada	Japan	Masafumi Kamiyama	Japan	Suffered fourth-round TKO in professional debut, collapsed after fight and rushed to hospital to undergo surgery for acute subdural hematoma. Died 17 days later on 6 January 2014[28]
28 Mar 2013	Michael Norgrove	United Kingdom	Tom Bowen	United Kingdom	Collapse in Round 5 died 6 April without regaining consciousness.[8]
19 Oct 2013	Francisco Leal	Mexico	Raul Hirales	Mexico	Francisco Leal went into a coma after suffering a KO loss to Raul Hirales 19 October 2013. He was taken from the ring on a stretcher and brought to a hospital in Los Cabos, then transferred to Laz Paz, and later brought to a hospital in San Diego, where he died. He had a record of 20-8-3 with 13 KOs.
29 Sep 2016	Mike Towell	United Kingdom	Dale Evans	United Kingdom	Died the following day.[8]
27 May 2017	David Whittom	Canada	Gary Kopas	Canada	Whittom suffered from a brain hemorrhage and was rushed to Saint John Regional Hospital the next morning to have part of his skull removed. Spent the next 10-months in a medically induced coma before passing away on 16 March 2018.[29]
16 Jun 2017	Tim Hague	Canada	Adam Braidwood	Canada	Was knocked down five times in the first two rounds; died two days later.[30]
24 Feb 2018	Scott Westgarth	United Kingdom	Dec Spelman	United Kingdom	Scott Westgarth defeated Dec Spelman. Westgarth was knocked down just before the end of the fight and collapsed in the locker room. Westgarth was rushed to a nearby hospital and died.[31]
5 Nov 2018	Christian Daghio	Italy	Don Parueang	Thailand	Christian Daghio was knocked to the canvas twice in the final round of his WBC Asia title fight against Don Parueang on 26 October. After his second knockdown, Daghio was immediately treated by medical staff inside the ring. He was subsequently taken to hospital in Bangkok where he spent two days in a coma before passing away.[32]
19 Jul 2019	Maxim Dadashev	Russia	Subriel Matías	Puerto Rico	Match went to 11 rounds after stoppage from Dadashev's trainer. Dadashev collapsed while being transported to the hospital where he underwent emergency brain surgery. He was placed into a coma before dying three days after the fight due to cerebral edema caused by sustained hits to the head.[33]
25 Jul 2019	Hugo Alfredo "Dinamita" Santillan	Argentina	Eduardo Javier Abreu	Uruguay	According to ringside reports, Santillan's nose began bleeding in the fourth round of this fight on 20 July. Santillan passed out as the judges were announcing the draw. After being admitted to the hospital, he had swelling of the brain and successive kidney failure. As the swelling worsened, it affected the functioning of the rest of his organs and he never regained consciousness. Santillan underwent surgery for a clot in his brain and twice went into cardiorespiratory failure before he died of cardiac arrest. He suffered a heavy loss a month earlier in Germany against Artem Harutyunyan, which triggered the German boxing federation to protectively ban Santillan until 30 July. His regular coach Orlando Farias knew about this ban and did not coach him in this fight.[34][35]
21 Sep 2019	Boris Stanchov	Bulgaria	Ardit Murja	Albania	It was initially reported how 21-year-old Isus Velichkov collapsed during a match with Ardit Murja after suffering a cardiac arrest. But it has been revealed that Stanchov was using the boxing license of his cousin Velichkov. According to Bad Left Hook, Stanchov had been fighting under his name for the past year and was also stepping into the ring using Velichkov's medicals. The tragedy struck in the fifth round of his scrap in Albania after being caught with a jab. He had appeared wobbly on his feet in the moments before hitting the canvas. The fight was immediately waved off, and the referee and medical teams rushed into the ring.
12 Oct 2019	Patrick Day	United States	Charles Conwell	United States	27-year-old Day was knocked down three times in his fight with Conwell. The final knockdown that stopped the fight was particularly brutal as Day's head violently bounced on the canvas. Seeing the way Day fell, the referee immediately stopped the fight. Day was rushed to a hospital, where he began to suffer seizures and shortly after fell into a coma. Doctors then performed emergency brain surgery. Four days later on 16 October 2019, Day died from what was described as traumatic brain injury.[36] Following his death, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said the sport needed to become safer.[37]

References

1. "BOXING : BOXERS DYING OR LEFT SERIOUSLY INJURED AFTER FIGHTS". The Independent. 27 February 1995. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
2. "The Strange Death of Ernie Schaaf". Boxing.com. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
3. |Boxing Records website| New York City newspapers 16, 18 July 1940 | Boxer Drops Dead in Queensboro Ring and Asero Autopsy Shows Boxer Had No Injury |Personal research by Ricky DeSoiza
4. "Final bell for Gentleman Jack Hassen". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
5. "My First One: Lavern Roach v. Georgie Small, 1950". Bad Left Hook. 17 November 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
6. "Sonny Boy West Succombs to Ring Injury". The Telegraph. 22 December 1950. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
7. "Ed Sanders". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
8. "Boxing's deadly toll". BBC News. 5 May 1998. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
9. James Reed (20 January 1996). "Fighting memories of death". The Independent. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
10. "Boxer, 20, Dies From Injuries". New York Times. 27 November 1991. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
11. Boxing record for Minoru Katsumata from BoxRec
12. Siredey, Francisco (30 December 2012). "Ellis: El último boxeador chileno fallecido tras una pelea". La Tercera. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
13. "Boxer Randie Carver Dies". CBS Sports. 13 September 1999. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
14. "Boxer dies five days after bout". UPI. 25 October 2000. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
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16. "The Rone Incident". boxing.com. 30 October 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
17. "WBC launches probe into boxer Sanchez's death". ESPN. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
18. "Johnson dies from brain injury sustained in title fight". ESPN. 23 September 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
19. "Boxer dies after suffering brain injury in fight". ESPN. 20 March 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
20. "Requiem for a boxer: Who will cry for Angelito?". Inquirer. 4 April 2006. Archived from the original on 6 April 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
21. "South Korean boxer Choi Yo Sam declared dead". NY Times. 3 January 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
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23. "Houston boxer dies five days after title fight in Dallas". Chron. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
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25. "Chicago boxer Rodriguez dies at 25". ESPN. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
26. "Roman Simakov Dies of Brain Injuries". Boxing.com. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
27. "Muhammad Afrizal dies after fight". ESPN. 4 April 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
28. "Boxer Dies in Japan After Being Knocked Out in Pro Debut". BoxingScene. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
29. "Boxer David Whittom dies after 10 months in a coma following Fredericton fight". CBC. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
30. "Tim Hague: Former UFC fighter dies aged 34 after knockout in boxing bout". BBC Sport. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
31. "British boxer Scott Westgarth dies after winning boxing match on Saturday". USA TODAY. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
32. "Da Modena a Bangkok, muore sul ring la leggenda italiana della thai boxe". Repubblica.it (in Italian). 3 November 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
33. "Russian boxer Dadashev, who suffered 'severe brain damage' after TKO loss, dies of his injuries". RT International. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
34. "Russian boxer Dadashev, who suffered 'severe brain damage' after TKO loss, dies of his injuries". RT International. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
35. Hugo Santillan nach Boxkampf verstorben – bereits der zweite Todesfall in einer Woche, boxen.de, 25 July 2019.
36. "Patrick Day: Boxer dies in hospital four days after suffering brain injury in Charles Conwell fight". 16 October 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
37. "Patrick Day death: You can say 'it's boxing' but it is so hard to justify, says Eddie Hearn". 17 October 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.