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The boxing world was stunned when lightweight fighter Maxim Dadashev died Tuesday after suffering a brain injury in a 11-round loss Friday night against Subriel Matías.
The fight was stopped after the 11th round when Dadashev’s trainer Buddy McGirt realized there was something seriously wrong with his fighter, despite his willingness to soldier on in the bout.
After the fight, McGirt said about his stopping the fight, “God forbid … one punch as you know can change a whole guy’s life and I wasn’t going to let that happen … so, I’d rather have them be mad at me for a day or two then to be mad at me for the rest of their life.”
🗣️"God forbid… one punch as you know can change a whole guy's life and I wasn't going to let that happen– so, I'd rather have them be mad at me for a day or two then to be mad at me for the rest of their life." 🙏
-Buddy McGirt on stopping the fight for Maxim Dadashev. pic.twitter.com/RINM4D83ZZ— Jorge Hernández (@JorgeDeBurque) July 20, 2019
Unfortunately, despite McGirt’s best intentions, Dadashev succumbed to the brain injuries he sustained during the bout.
“He did everything right in training, no problems, no nothing. My mind is like really running crazy, right now. Like what could I have done differently? But at the end of the day, everything was fine [in training],” McGirt told ESPN following news of his fighter’s death. “He seemed okay, he was ready, but it’s the sport that we’re in. It just takes one punch, man.”
Now, Dadashev’s wife, Elizaveta Apushkina, who was with him when he passed away, revealed on Instagram on Thursday that the the 28-year-old boxer suffered a stroke during the fight.
“Want to know what is the true power of the spirit, the highest will to win? What does it mean to be a warrior, a warrior in life? Reconsider this fight and know that when you are wondering how Max, with his level of protection, misses so many blows, according to the conclusion of the doctor who operated on him, he had already suffered a stroke and continued the fight, feeling terrible, inhuman pain, losing orientation, but he did not give up, he rose from his knees a million times from the blows of fate, went ahead and never gave up!!!” Elizaveta wrote in Russian.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0VzkoTlReR/
Dadashev’s manager Ruslan Dotdaev also reported that the fighter suffered a “hemorrhagic stroke.” Meanwhile, the general secretary for the Boxing Federation of Russia, Umar Kremlev, stated, “We would like to know what Maxim Dadashev died from. I do not think it was because of boxing. It is a very rare case. Everyone must know what happened.”
The man who was in the ring doing battle with Dadashev, Subriel Matías, said upon learning of his opponent’s death, “No one is prepared to die while looking for dreams and goals. We simply go up to the ring thinking about the well-being for our family without knowing how complicated and difficult it is to get into the ring,” Matías said in a statement Wednesday. “Fly high great warrior. Only God knows the reason of things. You will always have my respects. RIP Maxim Dadashev.”
Matías’ spokesman, Fernando Gaztambide, said the first words out of his fighter’s mouth when he heard the news about Dadashev’s passing was, “I don’t want this check,” referring to the $75,000 in winnings he was to receive for the victory.
On Thursday, another boxer, 23-year-old Hugo Santillan, also died as a result injuries sustained in the ring over the weekend, passing out as the results of the fight were being announced, only to never wake up following successive kidney failure after being transported to the hospital.