South Korean boxer Choi Yoi-sam falls into coma after WBO match
Published Wednesday December 26th, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean boxer who lost consciousness after his WBO intercontinental flyweight bout is in a coma due to a brain injury, a hospital official said Wednesday.
Choi Yoi-sam lost consciousness and was rushed to a hospital shortly after winning Tuesday’s contest against Indonesian challenger Heri Amol. The 33-year-old South Korean boxer was knocked down in the final round of the 12 round fight, but it was not known whether that caused him to pass out.
“Choi’s condition is very bad. He is in a coma,” said Lee Mi-jong, a spokesman at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul.
The boxer had surgery Tuesday to stop the swelling of his brain, he said.
“Even if he survives, it’ll be difficult for him to continue his boxing career,” Lee said
I’ve never seen it, but I’m willing to bet that a video of that fight would showcase the obvious benifits of ref stoppage over the 10-count. I hope he makes it out of the hospital with all his functions intact.
On sidenote, boxing in South Korea isn’t popular anymore and pretty much replaced by MMA so lot of boxing fans and boxing industry people in South Korea hoped Boxer Choi could help and bring some good things back to Boxing’s popularity.
You never want to hear that. I could go on and point out the obvious stuff (calling MMA barbaric when it’s safer than boxing’s 10 count is hypocrisy, etc) but it’s a dead horse.:deadhorse
RIP Choi, and apparently RIP South Korean boxing popularity.