WBC to investigate death of Mexican boxer after
bout
August 20, 2005 -- Lingering questions about the death of Mexican boxer Martin Sanchez following a July 1 bout in Las Vegas have prompted the World Boxing Council to launch an
investigation.
"That life could have been saved," WBC president Jose Sulaiman said Tuesday during an informal news conference in his Mexico City office. "It would be dishonest of me if I remained silent."
Sulaiman did not spell out the questions about the fighter's death, but said, "in the case of `Fireman' Sanchez, there are things that should be investigated in greater depth."
He also announced an effort to improve boxing safety in Indonesia, where he said several boxers have died over the past year.
Sulaiman said a team of physicians from California, Nevada, Mexico and the Philippines would start looking into the Sanchez case immediately.
Sanchez, a 26-year-old Mexico City firefighter, died in a Las Vegas hospital a day after he was knocked out in the ninth round of a super lightweight bout against Rustam Nugaev of Russia.
Despite bleeding from the nose and mouth, Sanchez did not appear seriously injured as he left the ring. He collapsed in the dressing room and was taken to the hospital where he died.
Sulaiman did not detail the questions, but he said a WBC representative sent to monitor other fights that night "was witness to several internal events, above all in the dressing room, where there were problems ... that were not rapidly resolved."
"That's all I know," he added. "I don't want to speak on something that is going to be investigated but we know that something happened."
He said the WBC probe "is not a criminal investigation" but was meant to find ways to improve safety in future fights.
However he described a broad probe that would cover Sanchez's private and professional life, reports from friends, an examination of his training, of the events surrounding the fight itself and scrutiny of the official paperwork before the bout.
Mexico City boxing officials said Sanchez had failed to receive a medical clearance from his home commission before the U.S. bout, though his manager has told Mexican news media that the boxer underwent medical checks elsewhere.
Sulaiman also said the probe would look at "what weight the fight was contracted for and if that was his weight. And if not, why it was contracted."
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Sanchez missed the 140-pound weight limit by two pounds in on his first try at the June 30 weigh-in.
Yet the limit itself was already a jump of three weight classes from featherweight, where Sanchez had fought as recently as a year earlier.
"There are accidents that, if they are foreseen, are avoided," said Sulaiman, who has described increased safety for boxers as one of his greatest accomplishments.
He said another preventable ring death was that of Colombian Jimmy Garcia, who died after a May 1995 fight with Gabriel Ruelas.
Sulaiman said a WBC investigation showed Garcia had suffered "convulsions in his own home and the family never mentioned it. He had problems in the gymnasium and the manager never mentioned it."
Sulaiman also said that WBC referees and medical experts were taking part in a conference with Indonesian government officials to strengthen boxing safety in that country, where he said five boxers had died over the past year.
He said improvements would likely include stricter medical supervision of fighters and bouts, training so that referees would recognize potential neurological damage in fighters and a system to let a ringside doctor halt a fight.
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