Boxing: Three fighters who suffered fatal injuries during their bouts

American boxer Patrick Day's death has created shockwaves around the global sporting fraternity as he succumbed to injuries in what turned out to be his last ever fight on Saturday. Day's promoter, Lou DiBella, spoke about his death serving as a huge reminder of the risks boxing poses to fighters and that their courage must be saluted. In this article, we take a look at three deaths that took place in the world of boxing in 2019.

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Patrick Day

Day was fighting fellow American Charles Conwell on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk's heavyweight debut last Saturday. The fight which happened in Chicago, saw Day getting knocked out in the tenth round after which he suffered seizures before ending up in a coma. Day fought for four days before succumbing to brain injuries in what has been a tragic death. 

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Hugo Alfredo Santillan

In July 2019, 23-year-old Santillan was fighting Uruguayan Eduardo Javier Abreu. Santillan's nose began bleeding in the fourth round and after the fight ended, Hugo raised his hands signalling a victory. As the judges announced the drawn fight, Hugo fell unconscious. He suffered brain clots which affected the functioning of his organs. His brain kept swelling as the medics could not help him recover consciousness. He died the same night after suffering from a heart attack.

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Boris Stanchov

Bulgaria's Boris Stanchov was squaring off against Albania's Ardit Murja in September. Stanchov, who looked wobbly after being caught with a jab in the fifth round, hit the canvas and the referee immediately called the match off. It was reported that he suffered a cardiac arrest and could never be resuscitated even after being taken to the hospital. It was later revealed that Stanchov had been fighting under the alias and licence of his cousin since he did not want any losses in his record. His cousin, Isus Velichkov, commented that their coach knew that Boris had been swapping his alias with Velichkov's.

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