British brain injury association Headway has again called for a boxing ban after the death of Mexican teenager Jeanette Zacarias Zapata, following a fight in Canada last weekend. The 18-year-old welterweight girl was knocked down in the fourth round of her match against Marie Pier Houle at the GVM Gala International held in Montreal on Saturday.
After the fight, Zacarías Zapata apparently suffered a seizure derived from the blows to her head. A statement from the promoters later reported that the Mexican boxer had died in a hospital.
It was an unnecessary death
“It is impossible to imagine the pain felt by the husband and family of such a young woman with her entire life ahead of her”, said Peter McCabe, Headway’s chief executive, in a statement. Our thoughts go out to everyone who loved her. This tragedy was preventable. This precious life need not have been cut short.
Headway and other organizations recently gave evidence from a British parliamentary inquiry into concussion in sport and asked why boxing was not under “greater scrutiny”. “We asked, if parliamentary committees and sports organizations are considering bans or limits on forceful sports head contacts, why do we continue to allow people to repeatedly hit themselves on the head with such force?”, McCabe questioned.
“We explain the consequences, as we have repeatedly for decades, and yet no one seems willing to face the clear, obvious and unacceptable dangers of boxing. But make no mistake: this tragedy will repeat itself over and over again until boxing is banned”.
But that was her life choice. She knew the risk involved. All of us that train understand the risks involved. When you hop inside your vehicle you have an extremely higher risk of dying than any sports player does.
Interesting opinion. There are many conflicting arguments pros and cons on this issue.