We are greatly saddened to report, Haitian-American Junior middleweight Patrick Day, who suffered a 10th-round knockout loss on Saturday night, died from brain injuries on Wednesday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Day was 27.
According to a statement from his promoter, Joe DiBella of DiBella Entertainment, ”He was surrounded by his family, close friends and members of his boxing team, including his mentor, friend, and trainer Joe Higgins.”
“On behalf of Patrick’s family, team, and those closest to him, we are grateful for the prayers, expressions of support and outpouring of love for Pat that have been so obvious since his injury.” “He was a son, brother, and good friend to many. Pat’s kindness, positivity, and generosity of spirit made a lasting impression with everyone he met.”
ESPN reports, Day was knocked down by right hands in the fourth and eighth rounds by unbeaten Charles Conwell, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, during the scheduled 10-round fight on the Oleksandr Usyk-Chazz Witherspoon undercard at Wintrust Arena. Although Conwell was clearly winning the fight, Day was competitive in many of the rounds.
However, in the 10th round, Conwell landed two rights and a left hook that knocked out Day. When Day went down, the back of his head slammed onto the canvas, and referee Celestino Ruiz immediately stopped the bout without a count at 1 minute, 46 seconds.
Day was immediately surrounded by medical personnel and within minutes was taken out of the ring on a stretcher and to an ambulance. Day never regained consciousness. At one point he had a seizure and then lapsed into a coma before undergoing emergency brain surgery.
In a Twitter post addressed to Day on Tuesday, Conwell wrote he “never meant this to happen to you.” “All I wanted to do was win. If I could take it all back, I would,” Conwell wrote.
“No one deserves this to happen to them. I replay the fight over and over in my head thinking what if this never happened and why did it happen to you.”
Dibella said it is “very difficult to explain away or justify the dangers of boxing at a time like this.”
“While we don’t have the answers, we certainly know many of the questions, have the means to answer them and have the opportunity to respond responsibly and accordingly and make boxing safer for all who participate,” DiBella Entertainment said.
“This is a way we can honor the legacy of Pat Day.”
