Like everyone else in boxing, I was hit for six when news broke that Tyson Fury had been cut in sparring and that his February 17 superfight with Oleksandr Usyk was postponed.
The bigger the fight, the greater the disappointment at its cancellation. And they don’t come much bigger than the first fight for the undisputed heavyweight title in nearly a quarter-century.
However, with my timeline filled with #FuryUsyk content, as well as the sad news of Hollywood movie star Carl Weathers’ passing at the age of 76, I missed another heartbreaking announcement.
On Friday, Japanese bantamweight Kazuki Anaguchi succumbed to injuries sustained in his December 26 fight with compatriot Seiya Tsutsumi. The 23-year-old was knocked down four times before losing a 10-round unanimous decision in Tokyo.
When the fight concluded, both fighters exchanged kind words in the center of the ring and hugged each other. However, after separating and heading to their respective corners, Anaguchi began to stagger and fell to his knees. That was the first warning sign and then things got worse.
As a member of his corner team tried in vain to restrain him, Anaguchi had a seizure. The young fighter’s legs began to bend and straighten involuntarily and it was clear that something was terribly wrong.
I was looking almost 6,000 miles away, in Scotland, and I froze.
My memory returned to October 13, 1995, when John Murray was fatally injured in a British bantamweight title fight with fellow Scot Drew Docherty in Glasgow. Murray’s post-fight symptoms were almost identical to what Anaguchi had suffered. At only 25 years old, he died two days after being stopped in the twelfth and final round.
He was training at an ABC less than five miles from where Murray lived and was revered. The club was closed for several days as a sign of respect and the atmosphere when it reopened was terrible. Murray’s passing is an incident I have never forgotten and every time a boxer is seriously injured or worse, those memories come flooding back.
It’s one of the reasons I hate any fighter who talks about killing an opponent. A death in a boxing ring does more than end a life. The fighter’s family will never be the same again. Referees and corner teams may question the decisions they made. The fighter who inflicted the damage may have levels of guilt we can hardly imagine.
Anaguchi (6-1, 2 KOs) entered the biggest fight of his life, which was for the Japanese bantamweight title, excited about the future. He appeared on the undercard of Naoya Inoue’s title clash against Marlon Tapales and was showcased around the world. It was a dream scenario for a young prospect.
Japanese fighters are famous for their bravery. No matter how many times Anaguchi fell, he was going to get back up. The injury that took his life was sucking the life out of him and yet he continued to respond. It is a level of bravery that few can understand.
Anaguchi suffered a subdural hematoma and underwent an emergency craniotomy on December 30. He continued fighting for over a month, but the damage he had suffered proved too much. He leaves behind a one-year-old daughter.
While the ill-fated fight between Fury and Usyk takes up most of the headlines, everyone in boxing would do well to remember Kazuki Anaguchi. He gave everything of himself.
