Second boxing death in a week as South African Mzwanele Kompolo succumbs to injuries

A most violent sport

In a tragic turn of events, South African boxer Mzwanele Kompolo passed away after slipping into a coma. The ‘up-and-coming’ boxer was knocked out in the first round in a match against Siphenathi Qampi, held in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. South African Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula had the following to say about the tragedy: "It is indeed sad to hear of this news involving the passing of this young upcoming athlete."

This is the second calamity of its kind in the span of a week, after Australian boxer Davey Browne Jr. died in a similar fashio. The pugilist’s life support was terminated after he did not show any signs of recovery, post a knockout loss to Filipino boxer Carlo Magali. The match was for the IBF Super featherweight title, and the Australlian was placed on life support for four days before he succumbed to injuries last Friday.

Following Browne’s death, the Australian Medical Association’s condemnation of boxing and combat sports like Mixed Martial Arts has been invigorated. Their campaign begun with the death of Queensland boxer Braydon Smith six months ago, following a featherweight bout in his hometown of Toowoomba.

A highly vocal Dr. Stephen Parnis, Vice-President of theAMA told Australian broadcaster ABC: "One punch can kill, whether you are outside a pub on a Friday night or in a boxing ring, and this is the thing that causes young lives to be ended so traumatically. The way that boxing is designed there will be these times inevitably where someone will get bleeding or irreversible damage to the brain and they will either lose their life or end up with brain damage."

New South Wales sports minister Stuart Ayres has confirmed the full cooperation of the Combat Sports Authority, a state government agency, in the investigation into Browne’s death. Browne was a whisker away from securing a world ranking when he was knocked just 30 seconds before the end of the 12-round fight. He leaves behind two children.

Australian Medical Association is advocating a ban on combat sports including boxing, at high levels like Olympics and Commonwealth Games. It wants combat sports and martial arts to be completely banned for those under 18 years of age.According to the AMA, combat sports are defined as "any sport, martial art or activity in which the primary objective of participants is to strike, kick, hit, grapple with, throw or punch one or more participants".

Boxing is the second major combat sport to have the “ban” cloud over it, after Olympic wrestling. The latter, however, is worse for wear as it will not feature in or after the 2020 Olympics, due to myriad factors like TV ratings, ticket sales, anti-doping policy, global participation and popularity.