An 18-year-old boxer died days after being knocked out during Saturday’s GYM Gala International Boxing event in Montreal.
According to the CBC, Jeanette Zacarias Zapata, of Mexico, died Thursday. She was boxing Marie-Pier Houle on Saturday when she went into convulsions and fell unconscious at the end of the fourth round. She was immediately taken away in a stretcher.
Groupe Yvon Michel, the promoter of the GYM Gale International Boxing event, announced Zapata’s death Thursday night.
“It is with great sadness and torment that we learned, from a representative of her family, that Jeanette Zacarias Zapata passed away this afternoon at 3:45 p.m.,” the social media announcement reads. “The entire team at Groupe Yvon Michel team is extremely distressed by this painful announcement. We would like to offer our most sincere condolences to her family, loved ones, friends and especially her husband Jovanni Martinez who was at her bedside until her last moments.”
Houle, of Quebec, said Thursday night that she is “devastated” and offers her “most sincere condolences to her family and her husband.”
Quebec public safety minister Geneviève Guilbault said Friday morning that the Quebec coroner’s office will investigate the “causes and circumstances” of the death.
Zapata was knocked out last May in Mexico, and underwent neurological exams in order to fight in Montreal.
