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TRAGIC END: Choi Yo Sam in a coma in an intensive care unit at a hospital in Seoul. He took a heavy beating before retaining his WBO inter-continental flyweight title against Indonesia's Heri Amol. But he collapsed after the fight and never regained consciousness. -- PHOTO: AP
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SEOUL - KOREAN boxer Choi Yo Sam was pronounced brain-dead yesterday, after lapsing into a coma following a fight on Dec 25.
He was defending his World Boxing Organisation inter-continental flyweight title against Indonesia's Heri Amol when he was floored with a hard right to the jaw at the end of round 12.
The 33-year-old got back on his feet and won on points, but collapsed after being declared the winner. He was rushed to hospital, but never recovered from his cerebral haemorrhage.
Doctors were scheduled to remove his organs for transplantation last night, as he was to be taken off life support after midnight.
The timing was to respect his family's wish that 'he not die on the same day as his father, which is Jan 2', a spokesman said.
'Yo Sam always said he wanted to help those in need,' his younger brother Kyung Ho said.
'And, he would be pleased to hear that his organs are being donated to save other lives.'
'Yo Sam suffered so much and, now, he is going to a good place,' said his 65-year-old mother, O Sun Hee, of the fifth of her six children. 'He used to ask whether I had enough money to pay bills.'
Choi had saved enough of his prize money to buy his mother a modest apartment. But he received only US$3,000 (S$4,300) for his last fight, reflecting the sport's waning popularity.
Details from his daily training log reveal a lonely, tormented young man in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Fighters were not paid, and many of his friends left the sport.
'I miss so much the people who have left me,' he wrote. 'Will boxing leave me, too?'
Just before his last bout, he scribbled: 'Not much time is left. Will I be a loser again? I can't concentrate. I just want to end it all.'
In his final entry, he wrote that he was ready to give his all to retain his title and, one day, realise his dream of living a simple life.
'One step back, then I die. This is a match on the brink. I just want to live a simple life in a pretty house on a green landscape with someone I love,' he wrote.
'Now, I don't like the smell of blood anymore. I'm just afraid of tomorrow.'
Choi's tragic death brings back memories of the 1982 title bout between American lightweight champion Ray Mancini and South Korean challenger Kim Duk Koo.
Kim, then 23, was knocked out in the 14th round at Caesars Palace. Minutes after the end, he lapsed into a coma.
Emergency brain surgery was performed at the hospital, but he died five days later.
Prophetically, he had written the message 'live or die' on his Las Vegas hotel lamp shade only days before the bout.
Mancini was haunted by the death, and never again had the same aggressiveness in the ring.
Kim's mother took her own life four months later by swallowing a bottle of pesticide. The bout's referee, Richard Green, committed suicide on July 1, 1983.
Given the high-profile nature of Kim's fight - it was televised live in America - officials took measures that changed boxing.
A study, launched by Kim's death, revealed that fighters are injured more severely during rounds 13, 14 and 15.
So the World Boxing Council reduced the length of bouts to 12 rounds, and the other major sanctioning bodies followed.
The debate over whether professional boxing should be banned will be opened again, because of its nature - to cause harm - and the risk of brain injuries.
Head guards are now mandatory in amateur boxing, including Olympic contests.
But they would also reduce the appeal of the sport. Fans are drawn to major bouts for their naked display of aggression and by the prospect of a knockout, something that is very difficult to deliver with a blow to the body.
Stricter rules or protective gear might save lives, but they would kill the sport, reported The Independent.
The American Medical Association says three out of four boxers who have fought more than 20 professional bouts are likely to suffer chronic brain damage.
The most disturbing case is that of the great Muhammad Ali. By the age of 45, Parkinson's Disease had reduced him to a shuffling shadow of his former self.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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