18-Year-Old Boxer Jeanette Zacarias Zapata Dies After Sustaining Head Injuries in Fight Knockout

Photo: Jeanette Zacarias Zapata/Instagram

An 18-year-old boxer is dead after she was knocked unconscious during a match this weekend at IGA Stadium in Montreal.

Jeanette Zacarias Zapata sustained injuries to her brain while fighting Canada’s Marie-Pier Houle on Saturday night, according to theAssociated Press. Footage from the matchshowed the 18-year-old Mexican boxerbeing hit with a flurry of punches near the end of the fourth round, and Zapata appeared to convulse after 31-year-old Houle landed an uppercut that caused her mouthguard to fly out.

“It is with great sadness and torment that we have learned, from a representative of her family, that Jeannette Zacarias Zapata passed away this afternoon at 3:45 p.m.,” the statement read.

Groupe Yvon Michel said Martinez was “devastated and extremely upset” after Zapata’s death.

TheCBCreported that Zapata had to go through neurological examinations before participating in the match after she was knocked out in a fight last May in Mexico.

In a private post to social media, Houle shared a message to Zapata’s family after the fighter was taken to the hospital.

“Never, ever, is the intention of seriously injuring an opponent in my plans.” she wrote, according to the CBC.

“My sincere thoughts go to my opponent, Jeanette Zacarias Zapata, as well as to her family,” Houle added.

source: people.com