History Main / CasualtyInTheRing

* EA's ''[VideoGame/MutantFootballLeague Mutant League]]'' series of sports games revolved entirely around this, where players could be blown up on the court, bisected, etc.

* EA's ''Mutant League'' series of sports games revolved entirely around this, where players could be blown up on the court, bisected, etc.

%%** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavander_Johnson Leavander Johnson]]

%%** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Owen Johnny Owen]]
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Zerlentes Becky Zerlentes]] is the first known woman to have died as a result of injuries from a sanctioned boxing match. She succumbed to blunt force trauma to the head after a knockout in the 2005 Colorado State Boxing Senior Female Championships.

[[folder:Real Life ]]
* On November 13, 1982, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duk_Koo_Kim Duk-Koo Kim]] lost to Ray Mancini by TKO in the 14th round at Caesar's Palace. Minutes later, Kim collapsed, went into a coma, and died five days later. This event led the three main boxing organizations of the 1980s to reduce the maximum length of title fights from 15 to 12 rounds and make pre-fight health checks more thorough.

* On March 24, 1962, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Paret Benny Paret]] suffered fatal head injuries in his third bout with Emile Griffith. Referee Ruby Goldstein did not stop the fight when it became clear that Paret couldn't defend himself and Griffith landed twenty-nine consecutive punches before Paret fell through the ropes and the referee called a TKO. Paret collapsed in his corner, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, and died ten days later from massive brain hemorrhaging. This and another fatal bout in 1963 that cost the life of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davey_Moore_(boxer,_born_1933) Davey Moore]] led to the decline of boxing in the state of New York for almost a decade.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Zerlentes Becky Zerlentes]] is the first known woman to have died as a result of injuries from a sanctioned boxing match. She succumbed to blunt force trauma to the head after a knockout in the 2005 Colorado State Boxing Senior Female Championships.

* On 25 November 2014, Australian UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}er Phillip Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer, during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, causing a vertebral artery dissection that led to a subarachnoid haemorrhage. The Australian team doctor, Peter Brukner, noted that only 100 such cases had ever been reported, with "only one case reported as a result of a cricket ball." Hughes was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, where he underwent surgery, was placed into an induced coma, and was in intensive care in a critical condition. He died on 27 November, having never regained consciousness, three days before his 26th birthday.

* In 1956's ''Film/TheHarderTheyFall'', Humphrey Bogart's last film, Max Baer plays bloodthirsty boxer Buddy Brannen, a character based on himself. After another boxer dies in a match with Toro Moreno (whose character was based on Primo Carnera), Brannen is intent on proving that ''he'', who badly injured the boxer in his previous match, is really responsible for the death.

%%** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Paret Benny Paret]]

%%** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Dadashev Maxim Dadashev]]

* Professional wrestler Alberto Torres, then another named Ray Gunkel, died in matches against Ox Baker after taking his "hurt punch" finisher.

* On 25 November 2014, Australian UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}er Phillip Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer, during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, causing a vertebral artery dissection that led to a subarachnoid haemorrhage. The Australian team doctor, Peter Brukner, noted that only 100 such cases had ever been reported, with "only one case reported as a result of a cricket ball". Hughes was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, where he underwent surgery, was placed into an induced coma and was in intensive care in a critical condition. He died on 27 November, having never regained consciousness, three days before his 26th birthday.

%%** And at least one woman, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Zerlentes Becky Zerlentes]].

%%** Make it two: [[http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/28/south-african-boxer-dies-coma-phindile-mwelase Phindile Mwelase]]

* Happens more than once in ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie''. The most notorious case is Mariah, a cheating female wrestler who tries to cheat in her match, falls off the ring and gets the bell ''impaled on the back on her head''.

** Not surprising, as it happened in the actual jousts, themselves contests in which the death or injury of the opponent were not, after all, the point (the general melee was rather rougher -- people don't try to re-enact that part of a tourney, at least not with real weapons as it was fought back then). King Henry II of France died in a jousting accident.

* Sadly, this happens more than just a few times in RealLife:
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Paret Benny Paret]]
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Rodriguez_(American_boxer) Francisco Rodriguez]]
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Flores Benjamin Flores]]
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavander_Johnson Leavander Johnson]]
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Owen Johnny Owen]]
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Dadashev Maxim Dadashev]]
** And at least one woman, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Zerlentes Becky Zerlentes]].
** Make it two: [[http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/28/south-african-boxer-dies-coma-phindile-mwelase Phindile Mwelase]]

* At least two characters in the boxing manga ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe'' die in the ring, or immediately after a fight.
* In ''Manga/Reborn2004'', this trope is the reason why Knuckle, the Sun Guardian for the First Vongola Boss, swore off boxing and became a priest.

* Invoked on ''{{Series/Taxi}}''. Tony's doctor told him he couldn't box anymore without risking serious brain damage, possibly death. Tony is willing to take the risk, but Alex convinces him to quit by pointing out that his opponent would have to live with it on his conscience.

* Perro Aguayo Jr. died due to a neck injury at a The Clash event in 2015 after almost taking Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr's 619, the same 619 he had been doing nearly 300 days a year for a decade beforehand. Mysterio noticed something was wrong with Aguayo while doing the move and avoided hitting him; Aguayo had taken a dropkick in the back to the ropes to set it up immediately beforehand, which was the actual cause of the fatal injury.

* ''Anime/MegaloBox'': The first season is a retelling of ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe'', but downplays the original's death in the ring in the first season: While Yuri is rendered paraplegic, both he and Joe survive the final bout. In the second season, ''Nomad'', Chief dies shortly after his final bout due to an illegal blow to the back of his head.

* 1931 {{Tearjerker}} drama ''Film/TheChamp'', remade in 1979, ends with the boxer winning the fight, only to die in his locker room afterwards while his son weeps by his side.

* In 1991, the British professional boxer Michael Watson suffered severe brain damage and nearly died after being knocked out by fellow Briton Chris Eubank. The delay in providing appropriate medical treatment for him led to much hostile press comment and a compensation award against the British Boxing Board of Control, leading to significant improvements in the future, which have prevented any subsequent such incidents in British pro boxing.

* In October 2001, Eiji Ezaki (Wrestling/{{FMW}}'s headliner Hayabusa) botched an Asai moonsault against Mammoth Sasaki and broke his neck. Without his presence, FMW folded. He has pursued a career as a musician and regained the ability to walk by 2015, then died from a fall outside of the ring.
* Due to the nature of many professional wrestling moves, one small slip-up can result in horrific injury. In addition to Eiji Ezaki, Darren Drozdov suffered a spinal-cord injury that left him a quadriplegic after a botched powerbomb. In addition, "Iron" Mike [=DiBiase=] suffered a fatal heart attack while wrestling; the incident was played into the origin story for his son, the "Million Dollar Man" Wrestling/TedDiBiase.

* The "Punch-Drunk Disease", which is the result of any sport where a player takes a serious blow to the head, keeps playing, and then takes a bunch more without the first getting a chance to heal (first identified in boxing, also found in wrestling and football) has led to quite a few deaths. Wrestling/BretHart got ''seriously'' lucky in this regard. He suffered a concussion so severe that every blow he took to the head afterwards gave him a minor concussion. These days, he can't lift weights, fly in airplanes, or professionally wrestle. It was a miracle he didn't die outright. (This is why his in-ring work is so limited in his more recent WWE appearances.)
** Repeated concussions were also implicated in the death of Wrestling/ChrisBenoit... [[PaterFamilicide as well as those of his wife and child.]] It will never be known for certain, but the post-mortem examination revealed evidence of some quite serious brain injuries that were probably a contributing factor (at the least, they certainly didn't help) in the mental breakdown that ended in a murder-suicide.
* Luis Resto vs. Billy Collins is mired in controversy even after 30 years. Though Collins didn't die as a result of the match, the injuries he suffered in the ring, (which included permanent eye damage) ruined his entire livelihood. And about nine months later he died in a suspected suicide when it appeared that he deliberately crashed his car into a culvert. Then there are the other two reasons the bout is mired in controversy: Resto's trainer removed some of the padding from Resto's gloves and, according to Resto, also dipped his hand wraps in plaster of Paris, making the punches much more deadly, and also according to Resto, gave the boxer crushed asthma pills mixed into his water, increasing his stamina. In other words, Resto was able to hit much harder and for far longer than usual, leading to the [[http://x22.xanga.com/f5ae163552532280939391/m223805751.jpg severity of the injuries that Collins suffered]].
* In the case of UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts, 30-year-old Michael Kirkham died from a brain hemorrhage after his pro debut, a TKO loss after being taken down and ground-and-pounded -- all legal strikes. but it would be later revealed that only a month before he'd been medically suspended (for thirty-days, this was after the suspension) after a TKO loss from strikes to the back of the head in his last amateur bout; on top of that, he was fighting in South Carolina where the sport had only recently become formally sanctioned but where neither a full physical nor a neurological test were required for a fighter's license, and most noticeably, he was fighting at lightweight (155 lbs) despite being ''six foot nine'', making him dangerously lanky (and possibly having dehydrated, or "dried out," to make 155).\\
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It's actually been argued by many specialists that fighters "drying out" to make lower and lower weight classes (in order to maximize muscle mass relative to overall body weight) may cause a fighter to be more prone to taking more severe damage. They point to the low number of ring deaths among heavyweights, who don't have to make weight before fights, even though they punch much harder than fighters in other weight classes. The above-mentioned Duk Koo Kim was reported to have had a monumental struggle to make weight for his title fight against Mancini, in a way understandable because this was a once in a lifetime chance (a title fight against one of America's most popular fighters at the time in Las Vegas on national television) for the obscure Korean boxer. These specialists believe that dehydration to try and make weight reduces the amount of fluid between the brain and the skull that cushions the brain during head trauma.

* Given the nature of ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', the fight between [[Franchise/StreetFighter Balrog]] and [[VideoGame/KillerInstinct T.J. Combo]], while presented as a regular boxing match, had to end in one of these, with Balrog on the receiving end - a superpowered uppercut from T.J. ripped his head off.

* At least two characters in the boxing manga ''Manga/AshitaNoJoe'' die in the ring, or immediately after a fight.

* Ratings Games, the team arena combat used to settle disputes between devils in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', are designed to be as non-lethal as possible, but accidents can happen. Riser loudly boasts that he could finish off a weakened Issei and get away with it. He was bluffing, using Issei's life as leverage to make Rias surrender.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has a boxing sidequest. The rules for winning a match are a little obscure, but death is definitely a possibility. Especially if you find the plated gloves and maybe pop a couple Buffout.
* The main character's tag team partner would eventually meet this fate courtesy of the BigBad in ''Super Videogame/FireProWrestling Special''. It can happen to the main character as well if he loses.

* ''ComicBook/CombatKellyAndHisDeadlyyDozen'': Combat Kelly killed his opponent during the Army boxing championships and was arrested for manslaughter. He later learned that his opponent had been drugged and the referee bribed not to stop the fight.

* ''ComicBook/CombatKellyAndHisDirtyDozen'': Combat Kelly killed his opponent during the Army boxing championships and was arrested for manslaughter. He later learned that his opponent had been drugged and the referee bribed not to stop the fight.

* In ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'', this trope is the reason why Knuckle, the Sun Guardian for the First Vongola Boss, swore off boxing and became a priest.
* ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo''.

* In ''FanFic/FourDeadlySecrets'', Pyrrha tells Melanie about a mishap during her second tournament where the referee misjudged her strength and she broke her opponent's aura, accidentally dealing a deadly blow.

->In 1968, they changed the rules of Grand Prix racing to cut down on driver fatalities. '''Welcome to 1967'''.