25 DECEMBRE...CA CALME

South Korean boxer Choi Yoi Sam, who lost consciousness after winning his WBO intercontinental flyweight title fight last week, has been declared brain dead, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday.

A hospital committee pronounced Choi brain dead at 1 p.m. (0400 GMT) after conducting a series of brain tests, said Ko Seung Kwan, a spokesman at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. Choi had been in a coma since shortly after winning the fight against Indonesian challenger Heri Amol in Seoul on Dec. 25.

The 33-year-old South Korean was knocked down shortly before the end of the 12th and final round of the bout but got back up and was declared the winner on points before collapsing.

Doctors were scheduled to remove Choi's organs for transplantation Wednesday night after getting approval from the prosecutors' office - a legal requirement before organs can be removed - said Ko.

Choi's family requested that he be officially pronounced dead early Thursday following the removal of the organs, according to the hospital.

"He has lived a hard life," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Oh Soon Hui, Choi's 65-year-old mother, as saying. "I hope he has gone to a peaceful place." She could not immediately be reached for comment.

Choi was the WBC light flyweight world champion from Oct. 1999 to July 2002, and fought for the WBA light flyweight world title in Sept. 2004. South Korea's boxing commission had no immediate comment.

In 1982, South Korean lightweight Kim Duk Koo died four days after being knocked out by Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini in a WBA lightweight world title fight in Las Vegas. Kim was knocked out in the 14th round, prompting the WBC to reduce the length of its bouts from 15 to 12 rounds, with the other major sanctioning bodies following later.

Another South Korean fighter, bantamweight Lee Tong Choon, died of acute swelling of the brain in 1995, four days after losing consciousness following a Japanese title fight against Setsuo Kawamasu in Tokyo.

Comments

[Fighting Spirit]

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