Cape Town – South African lightweight boxer Simiso Buthelezi, 24, is reportedly fighting for his life in a coma at King Edward Hospital, Durban, after allegedly bleeding in the brain following a boxing match on Sunday.
Buthelezi was fighting in a 10-round World Boxing Federation All Africa Lightweight fight at Greyville Convention Centre.
Siphesihle Mntungwa was his opponent.
Buthelezi was comfortably beating Mntungwa until he lost his bearings and wandered off to an empty corner of the ring, where he began shadowboxing while Mntungwa stood behind him, according to Sport24.
In a video shared on social media, Buthelezi could be seen beating Mntungwa to a point where he fell through the ropes but before that, Buthelezi took a strong jab to the chin from Mntungwa.
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Following that, Buthelezi appeared to be disoriented.
Mntungwa regained his footing and prepared to resume the fight.
However, inexplicably, Buthelezi directed his attention toward the referee instead of his opponent. The referee moved out of the way, leaving Buthelezi staring at an empty corner of the ring and swinging punches at what seemed to be an invisible opponent.
The match was immediately called off, as Buthelezi clearly wasn’t in a fit state to continue.
Take a look at the video below:
Voloyi.
Simiso Buthelezi seems to have had a health crisis during a boxing match. He started punching the air ?? pic.twitter.com/WfZLf2svug
— Daniel Marven (@danielmarven) June 6, 2022
“He is not in a good health condition at all; he is critical but stable. We discovered that he bled on the brain and sadly his condition does not allow the doctors that are treating to operate at the moment due to the condition.
“Another suspicion is that he may have suffered an injury before Sunday’s fight. It could be injuries building up all the years. His condition deteriorated when he was rushed to the hospital,” Sowetan Live quoted doctor Buyi Mabaso-Dlamini as saying.
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Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
