Mexican boxer Martin Sanchez has died from serious head injuries after being knocked out by Russian Rustam Nugaev during a fight on Friday at a Las Vegas casino.
Nugaev knocked Sanchez out with a right hand punch just over two minutes into the ninth round of a super lightweight match at The Orleans casino and hotel, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Doctors at a Las Vegas’ hospital performed emergency brain surgery on Sanchez but were unable to save him and the 26-year-old from Mexico City died on Saturday morning.
Doctors said Sanchez underwent surgery to remove a subdural hematoma and to reduce massive swelling of the brain. He was placed on a ventilator in the hospital’s intensive care unit where he died.
Sanchez fell through the ropes prompting referee Ken Bayless to stop the fight. Sanchez recovered enough to return to his corner where he was examined by ring doctor William Berliner.
Sanchez then waved and blew kisses to the crowd as he left the ring.
A second doctor, Jeffrey Davidson, examined Sanchez in the dressing room and, like Berliner, declared him to be fine, Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner told the paper.
”I’m satisfied that we followed every one of our procedures to give him the best care we could, but to have this still happen, it really hurts,” Ratner said.
Sanchez was bleeding from the nose and the mouth during the fight and his white trunks were splattered with blood. Ratner said he watched the fight from ringside but didn’t notice anything unusual.
”The Russian kid isn’t a hard puncher and this is the last thing I would ever have expected after watching that fight,” Ratner said.
It wasn’t until someone noticed sometime later that Sanchez was acting strangely that an ambulance was called and he was rushed to hospital.
Sanchez had a 13-10 record with 10 knockouts but Nugaev dominated the fight from the third round on.
Sanchez is the second boxer to die in the state of Nevada in the past three years.
Pedro Alcazar died after being stopped by Fernando Montiel in June, 2002 at the MGM Grand hotel.
There have been five boxers killed in Nevada since 1994, including Johnny Montantes who died from injuries suffered during a 1997 fight also at The Orleans.
Sanchez was not as fortunate as his Mexican compatriot Ruben Contreras who suffered a serious head injury but survived following a May 28 fight at Staples Centre arena in Los Angeles.
Contreras has made what doctors call ”very good” progress, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Contreras suffered a seizure as he left the ring before undergoing over two hours of surgery to repair a blood clot and reduce swelling in his brain.
After almost a month in a coma, Contreras is now sitting and responding to simple commands.
Doctors are being cautious about making any long-term prognosis but they expect Contreras to start walking and regaining some of his speech again in four to eight weeks. – Sapa-AFP