In brief
In a devastating turn of events, Hiromasa Urakawa, aged 28, passed away after suffering a brain injury during a knockout in his match against Yoji Saito on August 2. His death follows a similar fate for Shigetoshi Kotari, who died on Friday from injuries stemming from a separate bout on the same fight card held at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.
Both fighters underwent surgery for subdural hematoma, a condition characterized by blood accumulation between the skull and the brain. The World Boxing Organization (WBO) expressed its sorrow over Urakawa's passing, offering condolences to the grieving families and the wider boxing community. The deaths of these boxers have raised serious concerns, prompting the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) to announce a new regulation reducing the rounds in Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) title bouts from 12 to 10. In the wider boxing world, Urakawa's passing marks the third high-profile death this year, following that of Irish boxer John Cooney, who died in February after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage post-fight. The JBC has initiated an investigation and plans further discussions in September regarding the events that led to these tragedies, as the community grapples with the ongoing impact of these losses.
