British Boxer Sherif Lawal Dies On Pro Debut

• After collapsing in the ring on Sunday

The British middleweight Sherif Lawal has died after collapsing in the ring during his professional debut on Sunday, according to fight organisers.

Lawal was knocked down by his Portuguese opponent, Malam Varela in the fourth of a six-round middleweight bout at Harrow Leisure Centre.

Paramedics at the scene tended to the 29-year-old pugilist, who was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital where the doctors confirmed him dead.

“Unfortunately during Sherif’s fight, he collapsed and despite the best efforts of the paramedics, he was later pronounced dead”, said the promoters, Warren Boxing Management. The company extended its condolences to Lawal’s friends and family in a statement posted to social media.

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) confirmed Lawal’s death in a statement Monday saying: “Condolences to the family of Sherif Lawal following his tragic passing. The thoughts of all those involved in boxing in Great Britain are with them at this difficult time.”

The fight was the first on the card, with the event then cancelled. Lawal was fighting his first major bout at the Harrow Leisure Centre in a suburb northwest of London. However, additional details on Lawal’s death were yet to be provided.

Deaths in the ring are not an uncommon aspect of boxing, a full-contact combat sport. American boxer Patrick Day died after he sustained injuries during a 2019 match in Chicago. Day, a New York native, was knocked unconscious during the fight’s 10th round and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Consequently, he slipped into a coma following brain surgery and never regained consciousness. His opponent, Olympic boxer Charles Conwell, expressed remorse in an open letter to Day while he was comatose.

“I can’t stop thinking about it myself. I prayed for you so many times and shed so many tears because I couldn’t even imagine how my family and friends would feel”, Conwell wrote.

Earlier that year, the Russian Boxing Federation announced the death of Maxim Dadashev after he sustained injuries in a match in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Trainer Buddy McGirt had the referee end the fight after Dadashev took repeated blows.

Dadashev was hospitalized with brain swelling shortly after the fight, according to The Associated Press (AP)