A second boxer from an August 2nd Dynamic Glove On U-Next card in Tokyo, Japan has died from brain injuries a week following the event.
28-year-old Hiromasa Urakawa lost to Yoji Saito via 8th round knockout at the Korakuen Hall event. Afterward he was taken to the hospital where he underwent a craniotomy to treat a subdural hematoma and subsequently died.
This comes just days after the death of Shigetoshi Kotari, who fought Yamato Hata in the main event for the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) Super Featherweight title. Kotari and Hata went to war for 12 rounds, with Hata getting his hand raised in the end. There was no sign during the fight that Kotari was taking a life-ending beating, although the two boxers did clash heads multiple times during the bout.
Kotari, just 28 years old as well, underwent surgery for a subdural hematoma.
Boxing sees roughly 10 deaths a year, but we’ve never heard of another case where two fighters on the same card have died. Changes have already been made following this terrible news — the Japanese Boxing Commission has announced that all OPBF title fights moving forward will be 10 rounds instead of 12.
The rule changes wouldn’t have saved Urakawa, whose non-title contender fight lasted 8 rounds. This was also his first bout in 10 months, so frequency of competing wasn’t the issue either. He was even up on the scorecards before getting knocked out, so it’s not like he was losing badly through the bout.
Japanese boxing is known for Yamato-damashii, which roughly translates to fighting spirit. That leads to a lot of hard sparring in the gym and an unwillingness to let injuries or concussions slow them down. Add in hard weight cuts for lower weight classes and it’s a recipe for these kinds of tragic stories.
The UFC is running on an impressive 31 year streak without a single death. This is a reminder that parent company TKO will have to be very careful (and a bit lucky) as it operates their Zuffa Boxing promotion to avoid any loss of life in the ring.
