Prichard Colón’s devastating 2015 fight against Terrel Williams did not only end his boxing career. It also triggered a lawsuit seeking more than $50 million from the people and companies his family believed failed to protect him that night.
Filed in May 2017 by Colón’s parents, Nieves and Richard, the negligence lawsuit named ringside physician Dr. Richard Ashby, his medical practice, Headbanger’s Promotions and DiBella Entertainment. The family alleged that Ashby should have stopped the fight after Colón complained of dizziness and pain in the back of his head following repeated blows, and that the promoters failed to ensure adequate medical safeguards. Court records confirm those allegations were at the center of the complaint.
Colón later collapsed in his dressing room, vomited and was rushed to the hospital, where doctors discovered a large subdural hematoma and performed emergency brain surgery. His attorney argued that an earlier intervention could have produced a dramatically different outcome. The lawsuit sought at least $50 million in part because Colón would require extensive long-term medical care.
Why the $50 million case never produced a public verdict
The case quickly became complicated by years of procedural battles. It was moved to federal court before a federal judge ruled in 2018 that it should be sent back to D.C. Superior Court, finding that the federal removal requirements had not been satisfied. That ruling did not decide whether anyone was negligent; it decided where the lawsuit should proceed.
The case later narrowed significantly. DiBella Entertainment and Headbanger’s Promotions were dismissed from the lawsuit, with the court concluding that the promoters could not be held responsible under the family’s theory for the medical and officiating decisions surrounding the bout. The negligence case involving Ashby continued, while subsequent litigation also dealt with where those remaining claims should be heard.
One important complication is that Virginia regulators had previously conducted their own investigation and found no regulatory violations attributable to Ashby or the promoters. That finding did not automatically defeat the family’s civil malpractice claims, but it represented a significant counterpoint to their allegations.
And that brings the case to its most striking point: there is no publicly reported $50 million judgment or settlement for the Colón family. Current reports following Prichard’s death at 33 describe the lawsuit as still unresolved, with no publicly announced trial verdict or settlement nearly nine years after it was filed.
The $50 million therefore became much more than a headline number. For Colón’s family, it represented an attempt to secure the enormous resources required for his lifelong care and to establish responsibility for the decisions made during the final fight of a career that once appeared headed toward a world championship.
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