*South African boxer Simiso Buthelezi is in an induced coma at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban, South Africa, after he became disoriented and started shadow boxing during a WBF All Africa title fight over the weekend.
Here’s more from TMZ:
Video of the incident hit social media on Sunday … showing Simiso Buthelezi fighting Siphesihle Mntungwa for the WBF African lightweight title. In the 10th round of the fight, Simiso was easily winning, when something went very wrong.
A few seconds into the final round, Mntungwa falls through the ropes. When he gets up, the ref tells the men to continue fighting. However, Buthelezi turns to the referee, and squares up to him, as if he is the opponent. Buthelezi then advances to the corner of the ring and starts throwing punches at the air … as if he were fighting an invisible opponent.
That’s when the ref, sensing something was wrong, ended the fight, per the report.
Watch the moment via the Twitter video below.
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Very scary in South Africa please ???????? for Simiso Buthelezi (4-1). At 2:43 of the 10th & final round, Siphesihle Mntungwa (7-1-2) falls through the ropes but then Buthelezi appears to lose his understanding of the present situation. Mntungwa takes the WBF African lightweight title pic.twitter.com/YhfCI623LB
— Tim Boxeo (@TimBoxeo) June 5, 2022
Buthelezi was taken to the local hospital and was placed into a coma in ICU. He remains in a coma. As reported by ESPN, doctors indicated a bleed on his brain as the cause of his condition.
“There’s no change in his condition, he’s in a coma, he’s not talking, moving or doing anything right now. The doctors say there could be a blood clot on the brain due to a blow to the head,” said his trainer Bheki Mngomezulu.
“There wasn’t anything untoward in the fight and in training. He was leading the fight on points before the unfortunate incident occurred, Mngomezulu said on Monday, per News24.
“I really can’t explain what happened, to be honest. It was bewildering, but in his training and in the build-up to the fight, there was nothing untoward with regards to his condition. He was in good nick before the fight.”
Per TMZ, Mngomezulu also noted that Buthelezi’s family is devastated by the accident.
“This is very tough to take, especially for his family. Simiso has just graduated two weeks ago at UniZulu in Zoology and Botany. The family can’t understand why this had to happen because Simiso has a bright future,” he said.
Dr. Buyi Mabaso-Dlamini was ringside during the fight and he told local publication The Sowetan that Simiso “is not in a good health condition at all; he is critical but stable.”
The doctor added, “We discovered that he bled on the brain and sadly his condition does not allow the doctors that are treating to operate at the moment due to the condition.”
The boxer’s team is now trying to determine how Buthelezi got the brain bleed.
