United States boxer Leavander Johnson died on Thursday from injuries sustained five days earlier in a lightweight title fight with Jesus Chavez.
The 35-year-old died at University Medical Centre, where he had been hospitalised since being injured in the fight on Saturday at the MGM Grand hotel-casino.
Johnson’s promoter, Lou DiBella, said Johnson’s family members were present when he died. Johnson’s father was his trainer and his brother was his manager.
”What a wonderful guy this was. And I’ve never met anybody so proud or so grateful to achieve his dream,” DiBella said. ”If there’s any solace to be taken in this, it’s that he died doing what he loved. He died a champion.”
Johnson was put in a medically induced coma after undergoing brain surgery less than an hour after his fight with Chavez.
Doctors were initially unsure he would make it through the night, but the next day expressed cautious optimism after tests showed improvement in brain function.
Johnson spent 16 years as a professional fighter before finally winning the IBF version of the 60kg title in June. But, in his first defence, he took a beating from Chavez before finally being stopped by a flurry of punches in the 11th round.
He walked from the ring, but on the way to the dressing room began showing signs of an injury. He was rushed to UMC, where neurosurgeon William Smith operated on him to relieve pressure from a subdural haematoma, or bleeding on the brain.
”There’ll be a lot of people who’ll take pokes at boxing for this. We can be better for protecting our athletes. But this was not a situation where anyone failed Leavander Johnson,” said DiBella, who knew Johnson for more than 10 years. ”It was just
God’s will. It’s a sport that’s inherently dangerous.”
Dibella said Johnson’s father, Bill, said Chavez was ”blameless in this tragic situation”.
Johnson’s death follows the July 2 death of Mexican boxer Martin Sanchez, who died a day after he was knocked out by Rustam Nugaev of the Russian Federation in a super lightweight fight in Las Vegas. That death was the fifth in the ring since 1994 in the city.
Before Sanchez died, two other fighters suffered brain injuries but survived after fights this year in Las Vegas. – Sapa-AP