A promising professional record ended in a devastating bout, leaving a young fighter facing consequences that changed boxing safety forever.<\/p>\n
Former boxer Prichard Col\u00f3n has died at the age of 33, 11 years after suffering a severe head injury in the only loss of his professional career.<\/p>\n
His father, Richard Col\u00f3n, announced his son\u2019s death on Facebook.<\/p>\n
It is with deep regret that I announce that my son Prichard has left this earthly world. He is now in a better place. Thank you for so many years of love and prayers. Please continue to pray for us as much as you can.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Richard Col\u00f3n<\/p>\n
Prichard Col\u00f3n was born in Florida and later moved to Puerto Rico with his family. By the age of 20, he had won five national amateur boxing titles and claimed a gold medal at the Youth Pan American Games.<\/p>\n
Prichard Col\u00f3n\u2019s professional boxing career<\/p>\n
Col\u00f3n made his professional debut in 2013 in the light middleweight division. Over the course of his career, he fought 17 bouts and won 16 of them. Thirteen of those victories came by knockout.<\/p>\n
In September 2015, Prichard Col\u00f3n knocked out former WBA champion Vivian Harris in the fourth round. His next fight would be his last in the professional ring.<\/p>\n
Illegal blow in the fight against Terrel Williams<\/p>\n
In October 2015, the 23-year-old Col\u00f3n entered a 10-round bout against Terrel Williams at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia. During the fight, he suffered, among other things, an illegal blow to the back of the head.<\/p>\n
In the seventh round, Williams struck Col\u00f3n in the back of the head. The boxer was examined in his corner, while his opponent was penalized for the illegal blow.<\/p>\n
In the ninth round, Col\u00f3n was knocked down twice. After the round ended, he was disqualified because his team mistakenly removed his gloves, believing that the fight had already ended.<\/p>\n
Consequences of the injury and the end of his career<\/p>\n
After the fight, Prichard Col\u00f3n began showing symptoms of a severe head injury in the locker room. He was rushed to hospital and underwent surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.<\/p>\n
The consequences of his injuries forced Col\u00f3n to end his boxing career. After the bout, he often used a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
The World Boxing Council named Prichard Col\u00f3n an \u201ceternal champion.\u201d The organization had previously awarded him the title of honorary world champion and presented him with the Green and Gold belt. Following the tragedy, the World Boxing Council strengthened its safety requirements and medical protocols, while also introducing zero tolerance for blows to the back of the head.<\/p>\n
Prichard fought not only with skill; he fought with elegance and pride, carrying the flag of Puerto Rico to the highest heights.<\/p>\n
\u2013 World Boxing Council<\/p>\n
The death of Prichard Col\u00f3n marked a tragic end to the story of a boxer whose career was cut short after the 2015 fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A promising professional record ended in a devastating bout, leaving a young fighter facing consequences that changed boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,164800,49,48,44,298169,298300,82,298172,28029],"class_list":["post-857845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-brain-injury","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-prichard-colon","tag-prichard-colon-boxing-brain-injury-terrel-williams-world-boxing-council","tag-sports","tag-terrel-williams","tag-world-boxing-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}