Thursday was a sad day for the world of boxing. Prichard Colon passed away at the age of 33, following a lengthy battle with a brain injury suffered over a decade ago.
Colon ended up in a coma following his October 17 bout in 2015 against Terrel Williams. Colon collapsed following the fight, and was then transported to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma that required surgery to reduce brain swelling. He was in a coma for 221 days.
Colon eventually woke up and began rehabilitation, but he entered a persistent vegetative state and never recovered the ability to speak. The injury suffered on that fateful night caused neurological damage that couldn’t be reversed, although he battled hard to become conscious and use technology to communicate.
WBC introduced The Prichard Colon rule following his devastating brain injury
Colon’s story was one of great concern for the sport of boxing. In that catastrophic fight, Williams had repeatedly punched the back of Colon’s head, considered a “rabbit punch” in combat sports. Only a few months after Colon’s injury, the World Boxing Council (WBC) introduced “The Prichard Colon Rule“, which was implemented in order to stop injuries like his from ever happening again by banning that type of punch.
Unfortunately, the rule isn’t always consistently applied. Back in 2020, Tomas “Gusano” Rojas collapsed in a boxing ring in the Dominican Republic after being hit with similar rabbit punches by his opponent. Rojas had to be taken to a hospital, but thankfully recovered and was able to fight again.
Still, many have called for referees to be more watchful about that type of punch. There’s a reason it’s now illegal.
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