Boxer collapses mid-fight, suffers seizure
Boxing fans were left horrified after US boxer Tramaine Williams collapsed and appeared to suffer a seizure in terrifying scenes in the Team Combat League.
Williams, who is a 20-2 featherweight boxer, was leading off fighting for the NYC Attitude against the Las Vegas Hustle when he suddenly stopped before the terrifying scene took place.
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After sticking his right arm up in a way that left the commentator confused as to whether he was taunting his opponent Ryan Allen, Williams suddenly slumped face-first to the ground with the referee waving off the fight.
“Williams is asking for it … oh, Williams just went down,” the commentator said.
Williams’ opponent Allen stood back and looked equally horrified by the situation.
Williams was taken to hospital but has since been released, taking to Instagram with a message for his followers.
“Yes I’m good,” he wrote. “The Doctor Said I Was Too Dehydrated! I’m Though [sic] … Thank U.”
Fans were rocked by the scenes however, taking to social media.
UFC featherweight Sodiq Yusuff commented: “Well that’s f**king terrifying.”
Fellow UFC star Chris Curtis added: “Bro … Holy f**k.”
X account Boxing Kingdom posted: “This is so scary & sad. Get well Tramaine Williams.”
Boxing manager Joseph Santos wrote: “Never seen this happen before. Prayers up for Williams.”
Ring girl at the match Chelly Rivas posted on Instagram: “He is out of the hospital and doing better …”
The OOC MMA account added: “What a scary ending to this fight, prayers to Tramaine Williams.”
Others praised Allen for stepping back and not continuing to press for a KO.
Some have also questioned why it was an 18-round fight, but it wasn’t.
The Team Combat League is America’s first boxing league with a “team-based ownership model”, featuring 12 teams from around the country.
Matches generally feature 24 three-minute rounds of action with boxers fighting one round each.
Each round is then scored individually and added to the final score over 24 rounds.
Williams’ NYC Attitude won the night against the Las Vegas Hustle 172-166.
However, it has been a controversial competition so far after the death of heavyweight boxer Ardi Ndembo in April.
Ndembo was competing against Nestor Santana on April 5 in Miami when he was knocked out for “several minutes” according to the New York Post.
Ndembo was placed in an induced coma in hospital before succumbing to his injuries three weeks later.
Controversy erupted when it was revealed Ndembo had remained on the card despite having been knocked out twice in sparring in the lead up to the fight.
Jeff Mayweather, the uncle of boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, is the coach of the Las Vegas Hustle that Ndembo represented.
“Boxing’s a sport where you grow up watching it and loving it, but there’s so much risk involved,” Mayweather told SunSport. “Anyone can lose their life from boxing.
“When something like this happens, it wakes up the whole entire world.
“I don’t think boxing’s a bad sport because you can die in any sport. You drive a race car at 200mph, if it slides, you’re going to die too.
“You can die in any sport but boxing is a brutal sport.”
After the Williams incident, Yahoo Sports combat sports journalist Ryan O’Hara called for the league to be “disbanded”.
“Too many incidents in a short period of time. One fighter dies and now Tramaine Williams just had a seizure in the middle of the ring. I don’t think this is a coincidence,” O’Hara wrote.
