People that are involved in contact sports at a young age are at the risk of head trauma and sometimes death.
18 year old boxer, Jeanette Zacarías Zapata, died in Montreal due to the severe injuries she suffered against Marie-Pier Houle. Zapata’s mouth guard flew out causing the ref to stop the round. However, Zapata was unable to walk back to her corner and started having seizures in the middle of the ring.
“It was the coach’s or the referee’s fault because they are the ones who can throw in the towel. It’s the ref’s job to stop the fight if the fighters are taking too much damage, in this case, the boxer took enough to end their life,” said senior student Kang.
“No death in boxing is worth any fight, even though boxing is a combat sport there are always safety measures that are set to prevent critical injuries,” Kang said.
Kang started boxing when he was seven years old and has been boxing seriously for eight years, it was a surreal experience seeing someone around his age dying doing a sport that he loves.
Zapata was carried out by ambulance and was rushed to the hospital, she was then placed in a medically induced coma. She started to show signs of improvement ruling out the need for surgery. Tragically, five days after the fight, Zapata passed away at 3:45 pm on September 2nd.