- A teenage boxer was taken to hospital after suffering a knockout loss Saturday.
- Jeanette Zacarias Zapata, 18, appeared to have a seizure in the ring.
- She was stretchered out of the arena.
An 18-year-old boxer called Jeanette Zacarias Zapata is in a coma after getting knocked out and stretchered out of a ring after a recent fight in Canada.
The teenager took part in the GYM Gala International Boxing event Saturday at the State IGA in Montreal, losing to Marie Pier Houle in the fourth round of a welterweight match.
A left uppercut and right hook from Houle dazed Zapata in the fourth round.
She did not answer the bell that signaled the start of the fifth, appeared to have a seizure, and was laid onto the canvas to receive medical attention. The fight was scheduled for six rounds.
Zapata was stretchered out of the ring and taken to a nearby hospital.
“Accidents like Zacarias’s are very, very rare and we want to make sure to find ways so it doesn’t happen again,” the event promoter Yvon Michel said Monday, according to CBC News.
Houle posted a statement on her Facebook account Monday, saying: “Yesterday’s events really upset me. Boxing carries a lot of risks and dangers. This is our job, our passion. Never, forever, intention to seriously hurt an opponent is part of my plans.”
She continued: “My most sincere thoughts are with my opponent Jeannette Zacarias Zapata, and her family. I wish with all my heart that she gets well. I offer my thoughts and prayers to my opponent Jeannette Zacarias Zapata and all her family.”
Global News reports that the Régie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux (RACJ) — a regulatory body that oversees numerous industries including combat sports in Quebec — will investigate the fight, after seizing Houle’s gloves.
Such measures are normal “to exonerate Houle in this case,” a Global News source familiar with the event said.
Zapata’s pro boxing record fell to two wins against four losses, after Saturday’s defeat.
Houle, meanwhile, advanced her record to four wins against one draw.