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Death under the Spotlight: The Data
This series of tabulations supports my article, “Death under the Spotlight: The Manuel Velazquez Boxing Fatality Collection.” If your search engine brought you here directly, please refer to the main article itself, located at http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_a_0700.htm, for background and statistical analysis.
You are welcome to print these tables for private use, but please be aware that a printed version of the complete document may run more than a hundred pages in length. Check formatting, too – you will want landscape rather than portrait.
Names may be misspelled, or the date may reflect the date of death rather than the date of the fatal event. If you find errors, have photographs or additional information to share, or simply want a copy of the most current Excel spreadsheet, please contact me at jsvinth@ejmas.com.
Deaths are sorted by type (professional, amateur, Toughman, training, or before 1890), and then by year. To search alphabetically, use the CTRL-F search function of your browser.
SURVIVOR: When known, birth names appear first, followed by ring name in parentheses (like this).
DAY/MO/YEAR: These fields show the date of the fatal event.
RES: The result of the fight. Although the default is knockout (KO), the actual outcome may have been different unless a round (RD) is also listed.
DECEASED: When known, birth names appear first, followed by ring name in parentheses (like this).
AGE: This refers to the age of the deceased.
COUNTY/STATE: This column lists English counties, US and Australian states, and Canadian provinces.
SOURCES/REMARKS: Most of the newspaper citations listed here can be viewed online, generally on a pay-per-view basis. Some newspapers can be searched directly; see, for example, Brooklyn Daily Eagle and The New York Times. Others (mostly American) can be found online at NewspaperArchive.com. Many out-of-copyright texts listed here can be viewed online using Google Book Search or Microsoft Live Search. For access to back issues of boxing magazines, consider visiting the Winkler Collection at Notre Dame University. To find career summaries of professional boxers listed here, try Boxrec.com. For photos of professional boxers, sources include http://www.antekprizering.com/photoarchive.html, Corbis, and http://www.picturehistory.com.
Mixed Martial Arts
|
Survivor |
Date |
Year |
Result |
Round |
Deceased |
Age |
City |
State |
Country |
Weight |
Source |
Title |
Pro/Am |
Injury |
When |
Mechanism |
|
Angel Luis Rodriguez |
14-Apr |
1981 |
KO |
|
Alfred Castro Herrera |
15 |
Tijuana |
|
Mexico |
|
St. Louis (Missouri) Globe-Democrat, April 15, 1981. The crowd booed the knockout, viewing it as a fake. |
Unregulated |
Pro |
Brain |
Ring |
Blows |
|
Yevgeni Zolotarev |
16-Mar |
1998 |
KO |
1 |
Douglas Dedge |
31 |
Kiev |
|
Ukraine |
|
Kevin Mitchell, "Mortal Combat," Guardian Unlimited, April 8, 2001, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,467973,00.html. A newspaper photo can be viewed at http://apimages.ap.org, and the bout can be viewed online at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1193574140296314666. Dedge was knocked to the mat and hit in the head at least 14 times. The crowd screamed, "Kill the Yankee!" Dedge was carried away, unconscious, and he died two days later. Cause of death was subdural hematoma. Dedge reportedly had prior brain injuries, but did not stop fighting because of them. |
Unregulated |
Pro |
Brain |
Ring |
Prior injury |
|
NA |
12-May |
2005 |
KO |
|
Lee |
35 |
Samsong-dong |
|
South Korea |
|
"Mixed Martial Arts games trigger safety concerns," by KIM Rahn, Korea Times, May 15, 2005. The bout took place at a live sports bar near Seoul. No physical exams were done, and Lee had not participated in matches in a year. Cause of death was listed as myocardial infarction. |
Unregulated |
Pro |
Cardiac |
Ring |
|
|
Vince Libardi |
20-Oct |
2007 |
KO |
3 |
Sam Vasquez |
35 |
Houston |
Texas |
USA |
Featherweight (145-lb) |
Dave Meltzer, "MMA fighter Vasquez dies weeks after fight," Yahoo! Sports, December 2, 2007, http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-fighterdeath120207&prov=yhoo&type=lgns; Pramit Mohapatra, "What Sammy Vasquez's death means to MMA," Baltimoresun.com, December 4, 2007, http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/mma/blog/2007/12/what_sammy_vazquezs_death_mean.html. Vasquez had not competed in about 13 months. He was hit repeatedly in the head and the bout was stopped. He stood up, then collapsed without losing consciousness. He was taken to the hospital. On November 4, 2007, surgery was done to remove blood clots on the brain. On November 9, 2007, he had a stroke, and he died on November 30, 2007. |
Regulated |
Pro |
Brain |
Ring |
Blows |