American boxer Leavander Johnson died on Thursday from injuries sustained five days earlier in a lightweight title fight with Jesus Chavez.
The 35-year-old's kidneys had failed and his heart was not pumping on its own when family members decided to remove him from life support, his doctor said.
"We had no further mode to improve his prognosis, so the family very correctly made the decision to withdraw care," Dr. William Smith said. "He passed away very peacefully."
PHOTO: AP
Johnson collapsed on his way to the dressing room after taking a beating in his IBF lightweight title defense on Saturday. Doctors were operating on him within 40 minutes to relieve pressure on his brain, but he never came out of a medically induced coma.
Smith said he performed a second operation on Monday to remove a blood clot but Johnson was too gravely injured to survive.
"He suffered a very severe injury. The problem is that the injury was to the brain itself," Smith said. "In some cases, the punishment is absorbed by the skull, but in this young man's case, the brain absorbed the punishment itself."
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."
Doctors were initially unsure Johnson would make it through the night after being injured during the fight at the MGM Grand hotel-casino, but the next day Smith expressed cautious optimism after tests showed improvement in brain function.
Johnson spent 16 years as a professional fighter before finally winning a version of the 60kg title in June. But, in his first defense, 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 University Medical Center where Smith operated on him to relieve pressure from a subdural hematoma, 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." Chavez visited Johnson in the hospital the day after the fight.
Smith said it was not clear whether one punch or an accumulation of punches in the fight caused a swelling so pronounced that it pushed Johnson's brain from the right side of his skull to the left.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS