Japan records second death of boxer after event last week

The Japanese boxer Hiromasa Urakawa, 28, died last Saturday (9) due to brain injury suffered during a combat in Tokyo. The death occurred a week after the athlete was knocked out in a fight played on August 2.

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Urakawa's death was confirmed by the World Box Organization (WBO) and the World Boxing Association (WBA), entities that regulate sports at the international level. The athlete was hospitalized in a coma since the day of the confrontation, when he passed out in the locker room after the fight.

This is the second death recorded at the same boxing event. On Friday (8), was announced the death of Shigetoshi Kotari, who also suffered brain injury during combat on the same date.

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Urakawa participated in the preliminary struggles of the event whose main attraction was the dispute of the Super Pena belt of the Eastern Box and Pacific Federation (OPBF). The boxer was defeated by knockout on the eighth round by Yojji Saito, registering his third defeat in the last four performances.

After passing out in the locker room, Urakawa was transported to a hospital in Tokyo. Doctors diagnosed an acute subdural hematoma, characterized by the accumulation of blood between the brain and the skull. The condition required surgery to remove part of the cranial structure.

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Kotari, who fought at the same event against Yamato Hata for the OPBF belt dispute in the Super Pena category, suffered identical injury and underwent the same surgical procedure before he died.

The two deaths increase to four the number of fatalities in Japanese boxing in less than two years. In 2023, a single event resulted in the deaths of fighters Kazuki Anaguchi and Kanamu Sakama the same night. Recently, the boxer Gin Shigeoka was hospitalized with severe head trauma.

In response to Kotari's death, the Japan boxing commission announced last week the reduction in the number of rounds in belt disputes, from 12 to 10. This measure, however, would not contemplate cases such as Urakawa, whose fight was scheduled for eight robberies.