Line #101 Main/CasualtyInTheRing


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5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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11	[[quoteright:1000:[[Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctor_blake_s5_e1_boxing_ring.jpg]]]]
12
13	->''"Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing, but none of them serious."''
14	-->-- '''Alan Minter''', former British boxing champ
15
16	Ten seconds and our boxer is down for the count. He's knocked out, but he'll get back on his feet eventually, right? No, he won't. He's crippled for life if he's not outright dead. You can stop applauding the victor now. Deaths like this might seldom happen in RealLife, but it's nonetheless TruthInTelevision, as demonstrated by the Real Life folder below.
17
18	A form of FatalMethodActing. Compare and contrast BloodSport, where death or carnage is the intended outcome. A related trope is DeadlySparring. Compare SpectatorCasualty, where it's a spectator who gets accidentally killed by a competitor, and TakeMeOutAtTheBallGame, where a murder is committed within the audience at a sports event.
19
20	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] people who die in ''Film/TheRing'' movies.
21
22	!!'''As a {{Death Trope\|s}}, several if not all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Advertising]]
29	PlayedForLaughs in a ''Advertising/SegataSanshiro'' commercial for ''VideoGame/SaturnBomberman''. In the commercial, Segata Sanshiro is participating in a Judo match and kills his opponent by using a throwing technique that somehow makes the other judoka [[AwesomenessIsVolatile explode]]...'''twice'''!
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33	* In ''Manga/CityHunter'', one of Ryo's clients has him target an unruly boxer who killed her lover. He uses his trademark ImprobableAimingSkills to shoot a special bullet into the target's ear right when his opponent socked him in the head, killing him while the bullet shattered inside of his head and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident everyone assumes he just died from the punch]].
34	* In one of the stories in ''Manga/ConfidentialConfessions'', the LoveInterest has a HeroicBSOD after his opponent collapses following a match. The opponent's father doesn't hold a grudge, but it doesn't make it easier on him.
35	* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': A consistent rule of the numerous Martial Arts Tournaments in the series is that killing your opponent is forbidden, and grounds for immediate disqualification. On a few occasions, the trope has been played with:
36	** In the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', Goku refused to kill Piccolo Jr. because they were technically still in a Tournament match. Everyone else had ceased caring about the rules at this point (and in fact, the ring had been destroyed during the fighting), and are baffled that Goku is still thinking that way.
37	** In the Buu Arc of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Videl is almost disqualified when she accidentally breaks Spopovitch's neck, making it appear that he has died. The match continues after Spopovitch stands up and rights his head, showing that he was unharmed.
38	** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', when Goku uses a Spirit Bomb against Jiren in the Tournament of Power, Jiren deflects it back and it appears that Goku has died in the explosion. The Grand Priest rules that since it was Goku's own attack that killed him, this would be considered a form of "self-destruction" and Jiren would not be held responsible for the death. Naturally, it turns out that Goku barely survived the explosion anyway. The same reasoning is used later when several other fighters appear to self-destruct by their own energies, rather than their opponent's attack. This particularly includes Android #17 after he blows himself up to save Goku and Vegeta from being eliminated by Jiren.
39	* ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'':
40	** Subverted. While Randy Boy Sr. sustained fatal brain damage in his fight with Miyata's father, said damage didn't manifest itself until ''several days after Randy Sr's world championship fight.'' He didn't die in the ring per se, but the fight with Miyata Sr. caused his death nonetheless.
41	** Also subverted with Jinpachi Nekota, who was a victim of a "rabbit punch" that caused him ''punch drunk disease'' (see below), but that happened ''sixty'' years ago and he's still alive. He ''did'' have to retire, though.
42	* Ratings Games, the team arena combat used to settle disputes between devils in ''Literature/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.
43	** Much later Issei, driven beyond reason by seeing his comrades picked off one by one, comes within milliseconds of [[CurbStompBattle atomizing Sairaorg's Queen in a single blow]], stopped only by Sairaorg himself forcing his piece to retire. Issei shows no remorse in the aftermath, but Sairaorg doesn't hold a grudge -- he was the one who requests the rules be relaxed to the point Issei could even use that much power.
44	* Used in the backstory of ''Manga/KarateShoukoushiKohinataMinoru''. Ibuki Kengo's older brother Satoru, a martial arts genius, dies from intracranial hemorrhage due to the injuries he sustained in a match against an even greater Muay Thai fighter, Samart Sirinto. Ibuki Satoru had a cerebral arteriovenous malformation, a congenital disorder which placed him in great danger should he experience heavy head trauma, which had not been formally diagnosed before his death, but his fiancée believes that the medical examiners discovered it in his pre-fight medical examination and allowed him to fight anyway at the behest of the director of the fight promotion.
45	* ''Manga/{{Major}}''. Goro's father Shigeharu was hit by a deadball from Joe Gibson in the head, ''at 160 km/h''. Somehow he managed to get back up and continue playing, but the damage manifested the next morning, resulting in his death. Especially tragic given that the newspapers were all over talking about how he was the hero in the match and Goro didn't realize he was dead until he grabbed his hand and noticed that it was cold.
46	* ''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 multiple illegal blows to the back of his head.
47	* In ''Manga/Reborn2004'', this trope is the reason why Knuckle, the Sun Guardian for Vongola Primo swore off boxing and became a priest.
48	* Considering [[ProWrestlingIsReal the setting]], this is surprisingly rare in ''Manga/TigerMask'', and {{Justified\|Trope}} by the wrestlers going through [[TrainingFromHell extremely harsh training]] well before being even ''considered'' for stepping on the ring, hence [[MadeOfIron being tough enough to survive it]]. That said, it does sometimes happen, and Tiger's Cave [[InvokedTrope does it on purpose to wrestlers who try to rebel (such as the title character) and those who fail to inflict the intended punishment to traitors, the former being killed on the ring]] or [[DrivenToSuicide suffering such injuries that they kill themselves]] and the latter being forced to a fight against multiple opponents.
49	** In the manga this happened in Mr. Kamikaze's backstory: he was originally a rising karateka but had to leave the sport and move to Paris when, during a match, his kick killed ''his best friend and father of his fiancee'' by shattering his ribs. Years later, during the story, Tiger Mask tanks ''two'' of the same chest kicks and realizes just how Kamikaze's best friend had died, also thanking his more complete physical conditioning and his stronger pectoral muscles for saving his life.
50	* At least two characters in the boxing manga ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe'' die in the ring, or immediately after a fight. Even Joe [[TheHeroDies seems to suffer this]], but [[UncertainDoom it's left uncertain]].
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Comic Books]]
54	* ''ComicBook/CombatKellyAndHisDeadlyDozen'': 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.
55	* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': There's a story where the corrupt Judges of post-apocalyptic Las Vegas strike a deal with Judge Death (an undead OmnicidalManiac) to participate in several boxing matches in exchange for weapons of mass destruction so he can wipe out humanity. Predictably, every fight only lasts several seconds and ends with a {{Gorn}}y death in the ring.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Fan Works]]
59	* 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.
60	* In the pro wrestling story, [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10340937/27/The-Return-Remixed The Return-Remixed]], there is a "Casualty Beside The Ring", as Wrestling/EveTorres winds up receiving '''THREE''' triple powerbombs on the unpadded floor from DEAR.
61	** At the beginning of the story, many of the WWE Divas wind up as casualties of DEAR's group attacks, including Wrestling/BethPhoenix, Wrestling/{{Melina}}, Wrestling/{{Layla}}, Wrestling/{{Maryse}}, Wrestling/MichelleMcCool, and Wrestling/TaminaSnuka. The last two were able to recover and join the fight against DEAR.
62	* In the pro wrestling story, ''A Ring Of Their Own'', Wrestling/MichelleMcCool faces wrestler-turned-broadcaster Wrestling/{{Ivory}} in the ring. Michelle tries for a Faith Breaker but her hands are so sweaty she drops Ivory on her head, seriously injuring her and her being taken to the hospital.
63	* The wrestling short story ''Strong Fighting Champ'' has Wrestling/EddieGuerrero dying in the ring after delivering a Frog Splash to his opponent to win the match.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
67	* ''Film/AfterDarkMySweet'': A trope that is already dark gets even darker. Flashbacks reveal that Kevin, once a pro boxer, sort of reverted to a bestial state during his last fight. He threw the referee aside and ripped his glove off with his teeth. Then, with his opponent already on his knees, Kevin beat the guy to death with his bare right hand. The fight caused him to have a mental breakdown and, as the movie begins, he has escaped from a mental institution.
68	* The fate of one of [[TheVamp Catherine Tramell]]'s fiancés in ''Film/BasicInstinct''.
69	* 1931 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.
70	* ''Film/CinderellaMan'' shows this happening to two of Max Baer's other opponents. (Someone points out that Primo Carnera's huge height advantage saved him - instead of dying, he only got mauled.)
71	* ''Film/FearCity'': The main character Matt Rossi is still haunted by his accidental killing of an opponent in the ring, which led him to quit his career as a boxer.
72	* ''Film/TheFunhouseMassacre'': In Rocco The Clown's {{Flashback}}, it's shown that he was an underground wrestler who would often kill his opponents in the ring. They eventually put a stop to it by having him "retire undefeated" and having him committed at Statesville Mental Asylum.
73	* In 1956's ''Film/{{The Harder They Fall\|1956}}'', 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.
74	* An atypical example in ''Film/HereComesMrJordan''. "K.O." Murdoch dies in the ring when he is ''shot'' after refusing to [[ThrowingTheFight throw the fight]]. After the soul of [[BodySurf body-surfing]] Joe Pendleton inhabits Murdoch's freshly available body, he (they?) wins the fight.
75	* ''Film/IpMan2'' has the Twister's fatal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of Master Hung. Notable in that Hung absolutely knew what was going to happen. The ref calls off rounds multiple times when it appears the fight is becoming too one-sided and asks Hung if he's okay before letting it continue, and Ip even attempts to throw in the towel to save him, only for Hung to shoot him a silent look that basically says "no, let me die as a warrior."
76	* The plot of ''Film/{{Kickboxer}}'' is kicked off by the antagonist Tong Po beating Eric, the protagonist's brother, so badly that he's paralyzed from the waist down.
77	* In ''Film/{{Knockout}}'', Sandra is left comatose and paraplegic after her bout against Tanya "The Terminator" Tessaro, though she at least wakes up from the coma.
78	* In ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'', Maggie is hit from behind, lands on a corner stool and breaks her neck, leaving her a quadriplegic. Her mentor ultimately has to make the painful decision to [[ICannotSelfTerminate end her life]] before leaving boxing for good.
79	* ''Film/OngBak'' has this as part of the back story for the main character's master, which is the reason he tells him never to use Muay Thai for anything other than self-defense.
80	* In the Mexican film ''Film/{{Pepe el Toro}}'' (Pepe the Bull), the titular character accidentally kills his best friend in the ring during the semi-final match of an amateur tournament. The cause of death was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commotio_cordis Commotio Cordis]] a blow to the chest that disrupted the normal heart rhythm and caused a heart attack.
81	* The revenant plot of ''Film/ProWrestlersVsZombies'' is kicked off by Wrestling/ShaneDouglas either intentionally or negligently spiking the piledriver on Angus's brother during a match.
82	* Happens offscreen in ''Film/PulpFiction'' in "The Gold Watch", with the protagonist as the winner. This gets him in serious trouble with Marsellus Wallace, because he was supposed to [[ThrowingTheFight throw the fight]] for him.
83	* A major plot point in ''Film/TheQuietMan''. John Wayne's character killed a man in the ring and swore off boxing forever. He also decides that money is simply not worth fighting over, after all, what good does it do to die or live with killing someone else over money? Because of this belief, he refuses to physically fight for the dowry his Irish wife should inherit, not fully understanding the importance of it to her as a symbol. If not for this, the cross-country donnybrook with his churlish brother-in-law would have probably happened in the first reel, instead of the finale.
84	* ''Film/RockyIV'': Apollo Creed agrees to an exhibition match with the Soviets' boxing machine Ivan Drago. Despite being severely beaten by Drago, Creed refuses to concede the match, and eventually succumbs to a serious head injury as Drago wins via TKO.
85	* The protagonist of ''Film/{{Superargo contro Diabolikus}}'' does this accidentally during a wrestling match.
86	* The 2008 film ''Film/TheWrestler'' has an implied example of this right at the end when the main character wrestles with a fatal heart condition and takes one final plunge into the ring. Unusual in that his opponent isn't responsible for his death (even accidentally) and in fact tries to get him to end the match early once he realizes that he is not well.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Literature]]
90	* The book ''Flash Forward'', upon which [[Series/FlashForward2009 the TV series]] was very loosely based, invokes this. One character who didn't have a flash-forward was told by someone who heard a report about his death that he had died in the ring, and he goes through the rest of his life wondering how that's going to happen since he's not really into boxing. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the end. Turns out it was the ''ring'' of the particle accelerator at the physics lab where he worked. Someone tried to sabotage it, he went in to try to stop them, and the man had a gun...
91	* The ''[[Literature/TheSaint Saint]]'' story "The Masked Angel" has a boxer die in the ring while being beaten up by a rival, all of whose opponents have mysteriously fought very poorly. It is eventually revealed that the killer boxer's manager was applying a drug to the man's gloves [[PsychoSupporter without his knowledge]] that entered his opponents' bloodstreams when their skin was broken and sedated them. The death, however, is explicitly described as entirely due to physical injuries and not the drug.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
95	* 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 of her head''.
96	* The episode "No Holds Barred" of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman''. A wrestler learns about pressure points from an Indian "swami" and uses them to cripple his opponents. Seven have wound up in hospitals. At the end of the episode, the Indian agrees to use his knowledge to heal them.
97	* ''Series/ColdCase'' had an amateur boxer dying in the ring while fighting against a clearly superior opponent. Decades later, the referee confessed on his deathbed that he took a bribe to not stop the fight.
98	* ''{{Series/CSI}}'' had an episode ("Fight Night") where this happened. It turns out the dead guy died because his opponent was using loaded gloves ''and'' someone had gotten a hold of his coach's medkit.
99	* ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': An exhibition boxing match turns sour when one of the boxers is seemingly beaten to death in front of hundreds of witnesses in "A Lethal Combination". It ultimately proves to be a case of WeightedGloves.
100	* Seems to happen in the ''Series/ElleryQueen'' episode "The Adventure of the Sunday Punch" but it turns out to be a poisoning disguised as an accidental death.
101	* One episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' relied on faking one of these in order to snare a corrupt local fight promoter.
102	* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': The episode "Mr. Monk Takes a Punch" is about Monk taking the case of a bombing attempt against a professional boxer just weeks before his title fight. The intended victim narrowly avoids the bomb planted in his heavy bag at his boxing gym, a washed-up drunk accidentally killing himself on the booby-trapped bag instead. With him surviving, the hired contract killer tries to shoot him with a sniper rifle during the fight, but Monk manages to spot him in time and runs up to subdue him. The hitman is then fatally shot by Stottlemeyer and Disher when they get up to the box.
103	* Played for laughs in a ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch where boxers hit each other so hard that their heads fall off.
104	* One season of ''Series/{{Oz}}'' features a boxing tourney, climaxing with the death of one of the combatants.
105	* An episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' has Sam trying to prevent this. In the original timeline, a wrestler (the brother of the wrestler Sam leaped into) is due to die in the ring in an upcoming match. Sam decides to wrestle the opponent instead and saves the man's life.
106	* Defied 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.
107	* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Travelers}}'', Trevor is participating in an illegal underground fighting ring and dies from severe injuries. Well, he would have, except a traveler [[GrandTheftMe hijacks his body]] and concedes the match before the fatal blow. One could still say "Trevor" died in the ring, as his body is now inhabited by [[MentalTimeTravel a different consciousness]].
108	* An episode of ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019'' has the vampires rig a boxing match by hypnotizing the boxers so that their chosen one wins. The end result is that the boxer they chose to win hits his opponent hard enough to decapitate him.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Music]]
112	* Music/BobDylan's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_Davey_Moore Who Killed Davey Moore]]'', about the RealLife death of boxer Davey Moore who was knocked out by Sugar Ramos, conducted a few post-game interviews, then collapsed and never regained consciousness.
113	* Creator/YvesMontand sang about "Battling Joe," a young boxer who, one night, becomes blind during a fight.
114	* Pettinellis's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZV9ZzC-FY "Un hombre muerto en el ring"]] a.k.a. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "A Dead Man in the Ring."]]
115	* Music/WarrenZevon sings about the death of boxer Kim Duk Koo (see RealLife below) in his song "Boom-Boom Mancini."
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Theatre]]
119	* ''Theatre/{{Champion}}'', being a {{Biopic}} of Emile Griffith, includes the below-mentioned RealLife example of Griffith giving Benny Paret fatal injuries in a boxing match, which he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is horrified about.]] It's suggested that he might have also died because he had a head injury from a previous fight that was never given time to heal.
120	* Joe in ''Theatre/TheRiseAndFallOfTheCityOfMahagonny''. The crowd, who expected him to lose to Trinity Moses, laughs off the announcement of his death, saying, "K.O. is K.O. He didn't take a hard one."
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Video Games]]
124	* ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' 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.
125	* ''VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina'': During his days in the criminal underworld, Marcoh was set up and ultimately blackmailed into killing an ex-mobster in a boxing match.
126	* 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.
127	* ''VideoGame/GrandPrixLegends'' has this as its tagline:
128	-->In 1968, they changed the rules of Grand Prix racing to cut down on driver fatalities. '''Welcome to 1967'''.
129	* 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. Depending on the settings, the players would either come [[DeathIsCheap back to life in the next round]] or [[PermaDeath stay good for good]].
130	* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' has this as a game mechanic. After winning two rounds, the fighter can perform a special move called a "Fatality" which kills or maims the defeated opponent in over the top fashion. This has inspired other games to do so as well.
131	* Even as clean it is when it comes to portraying martial arts and street fighting, ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' has this side to it as well.
132	** Balrog used to be in professional boxing until his ruthlessness got the better of him and killed one of his opponents. This got him banned from boxing and became an enforcer to Shadaloo.
133	** The titular Street Fighter tournaments are no holds barred, and even though outright death of the opponent is not allowed, participating in the tournaments is essentially going into an underworld style martial arts competition with a good amount of positive publicity on a world scale- Survival of the fittest and no mercy on the weak definitely comes to mind, and whatever happens in each fight is essentially the outcome, no more, no less. While there are plenty of good-natured and honorable fighters who participate, there are just as many morally dubious and even villainous and bloodthirsty fighters who enter in seeking the title of World's Strongest as well, and this does not even count the martial art or discipline they will wield, be it styles rooted back in assassination or even raw merciless pragmatism. It also doesn't help that the tournaments and events of the series are also an opening for meeting grounds with those of rivalries rooted in bad blood, and to where the hosts of these tournaments are criminal organizations and probably have something more sinister in store with these events, making them truly a death-defying competition where only the best of the best can thrive in its intensity.
134	* In the pre-Street Fighter fighting game, ''VideoGame/ViolenceFight'', the character, "Lick Joe" has a backstory involving being barred from wrestling after killing [[ThirteenIsUnlucky thirteen men]] in the ring! In real life, Lick Joe would've certainly been arrested for murder after killing that many people in the wrestling ring.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Web Original]]
138	* 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. In fairness to T.J., Balrog was the first to both play dirty ''and'' turn it into a death fight by deciding he was going to murder T.J. for showing him up and rankling his pride.
139	* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', fans knew that the rigged match-up between [[RobotGirl Penny]] and [[MagnetismManipulation Pyrrha]] wouldn't end well, but the question was which girl would die. Ultimately, some manipulation by [[MasterOfIllusion Emerald]] results in Pyrrha using a strong magnetic force to deflect what she ''thinks'' is hundreds of swords (but is really only a few), sending them flying back where the wires connecting them to Penny's body wrap around her and [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe cut her into four pieces]]. Pyrrha, for her part, is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified]] when she realizes what she's done, but she doesn't get much time to dwell on it, both because all hell breaks loose, and because she herself is killed by Cinder Fall later that night.
140	* Part of Bobby Jacks's backstory in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' is that he accidentally killed an opponent in a boxing match.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Western Animation ]]
144	* Happened in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' with a street fight between Grandad and Stinkmeaner, where the latter dies from his injuries. Grandad avoided jail time because Huey was smart enough to go get the fight licensed and approved by the state boxing commission first, which waives Grandad of legal consequence for the death.
145	* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Baby, You Knock Me Out" has Deirdre Jackson, a female boxer who killed three of her opponents in the ring and planned to make Lois her fourth. There's also a CutawayGag about "deaf boxing", where a boxer keeps pounding on his opponent despite the bell being struck multiple times, since, well, he's deaf. Apparently, this is a regular occurrence, as one of the fans comments that every fight ends in death.
146	* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', Green Arrow faked his death in a fight in order to shock his opponent, Wildcat, out of competing in underground prizefights.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Real Life]]
150	* On November 13, 1982, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duk_Koo_Kim Duk-Koo Kim]] lost to Ray Mancini by TKO in the 14th round at Caesars 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.
151	** This incident not only cost Duk-Koo Kim his life, but also that of his mother (who died of suicide), and the referee (who also died of suicide). It also ended the career of Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini -- he was never the same after the death of his WorthyOpponent and retired from boxing just 2 years later, despite being considered one of the biggest stars in the sport and still only being in his early 20s.
152	* Max Baer ''did'', in fact, kill an opponent in the ring. However, contrary to his movie depiction in ''Film/CinderellaMan'', he felt ''really'' [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone bad about it]], and made amends to the man's family. Unlike the movie, which claims Baer had killed two men in the ring, this only happened once, although another opponent died in his ''next fight'' after fighting Baer, and apparently suffered from frequent headaches and other health woes after the bout with Baer. Those injuries led many people to attribute the man's death to the injuries he suffered against Baer.
153	* On March 24, 1962, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Paret Benny Paret]] suffered fatal head injuries in his [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Paret_vs._Emile_Griffith_III 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.
154	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Dadashev Maxim Dadashev]]'s last bout ended in the eleventh round when his trainer threw in the towel. He collapsed on his way back to the locker room and was taken to hospital. He died from a subdural hematoma four days later.
155	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Rodriguez_(American_boxer) Francisco Rodriguez]] collapsed after his fight with Teon Kennedy was stopped after the tenth round. He was rushed to the hospital for surgery, but died two days later.
156	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Flores Benjamin Flores]] suffered a brain injury during his fight with Al Seeger which led to his death five days later.
157	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavander_Johnson Leavander Johnson's]] 2005 fight against Jesús Chávez was stopped in the eleventh round after Johnson received a barrage of punches from Chávez. He collapsed in his dressing room shortly after the fight. After a surgery to correct a subdural hematoma, he was placed in a medically-induced coma. He was taken off life support and died five days after the fight.
158	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Owen Johnny Owen]] died in 1980 after suffering irreparable brain damage during a bout with Lupe Pintor. It was discovered that Owen had an unusually delicate skull but a strong jaw and the jaw had been driven into his brain during the fight.
159	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becky_Zerlentes Becky Zerlentes]] is the first known woman to have died as a result of injuries from an American sanctioned boxing match. She succumbed to blunt force trauma to the head after a knockout in the 2005 Colorado State Boxing Senior Female Championships.
160	* South African boxer [[http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/28/south-african-boxer-dies-coma-phindile-mwelase Phindile Mwelase]] fell into a coma after her fight with Liz Butler on October 10, 2014 ended in a knockout. She died two weeks later without ever regaining consciousness.
161	* Another South African boxer, Simiso Buthelezi, knocked his opponent Siphesihle Mntungwa through the ring ropes in a June 5, 2022 bout. Mntungwa reentered the ring to continue the fight, and Buthelezi then turned away from his opponent, faced the referee, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFcJjpPdvxI started punching at the air]]. The referee, realizing that Buthelezi had no idea where he was, immediately stopped the fight, and Mntungwa was declared the TKO winner. It quickly turned tragic, with Buthelezi being immediately sent to a nearby hospital, where doctors discovered bleeding on his brain. He was placed in a medically induced coma and died three days later without regaining consciousness.
162	* Charlie Mohr was an amateur boxer for the University of Wisconsin-Madison; his death at the 1960 national championships led the NCAA to discontinue the sport.
163	* On two separate occasions, professional wrestler Ox Baker's opponents died after taking his signature "heart punch" (later renamed "Hurt punch"). Although he did not really cause the deaths of Alberto Torres or Ray Gunkel, they were worked into his character, making him a feared heel throughout the late 70's. He '''did''' cause a riot in Cleveland (see it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl3WMjHPovU here]] with commentary from Wrestling/JimCornette) when fans thought he was literally going to kill Ernie Ladd after hitting him with several heart punches.
164	* This happened to British pro wrestler Malcolm "King Kong" Kirk after being on the receiving end of a signature splash from Big Daddy (easily the biggest name in British wrestling at the time), who was devastated by the incident despite an autopsy revealing that Kirk had a serious heart condition that cleared Big Daddy of any responsibility for his death.
165	* JWP wrestler Plum Mariko died in 1997 after taking a Ligerbomb from Mayumi Ozaki. It was a routine spot, however, Mariko's history of untreated concussions led to a brain abscess and taking the Ligerbomb caused her to fall unconscious and her brain to bleed. She died a few hours later.
166	* Due to the nature of many professional wrestling moves, one small slip-up can result in horrific injury. "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.
167	* Rookie ARSION jobber Emiko Kado died of a spinal injury she suffered on the promotion's first-anniversary show in 1999, just three months into her career.
168	* This happened to ProfessionalWrestling legend Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa after landing on his neck on an otherwise routine "backdrop" suplex, fatally injuring his spinal cord and suffering an in-ring heart attack at Wrestling/ProWrestlingNoah.
169	* Perro Aguayo Jr. died due to a neck injury at a [[Wrestling/LuchaUnderground 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.
170	* 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 lb) despite being ''six foot nine'', making him dangerously lanky (and possibly having dehydrated, or "dried out", to make 155).
171	* Counter-intuitively, "heavyweight" (or whatever the sport's highest weight class is called) in combat sports is generally the least likely to have deaths in the ring, even though heavyweights are delivering blows with more mass behind them. This is because of fighters in lower weight classes pushing themselves below their "natural" weight in order to have an advantage in reach or muscle mass over the fighters in a lower weight class. However, dehydrating or starving yourself for temporary weight loss before a fight is ''very'' dangerous, and has resulted in people dying from injuries that would otherwise have been survivable. This is widely believed to have also contributed to Kim Duk-koo's death mentioned above.
172	* Even Medieval re-enactment can prove dangerous.
173	** A re-enactor [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351018/Jouster-Paul-Allen-killed-lance-splinter-Time-Team-enactment.html was killed on a joust]] in UK 2011.
174	** Happened also in Russia in 2010, on a foot fight with poleaxes. A re-enactor smashed his opponent's helmet (and his head inside). [[AntiArmor Actual Medieval poleaxes were designed to pierce armour and helmets while knights fought on foot]].
175	** Not surprising, as it happened in the actual jousts, themselves contests in which the death or injury of the opponent was 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, that he did so without having any sons (or children period) sent a snowball rolling that eventually led to most of Western Europe going to war with each other and a lot of people getting well acquainted with either the gallows or the headsman's ax, most notably UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland.
176	* The only Major League Baseball player to die as a direct result of an in-game injury was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Chapman Ray Chapman]], a Cleveland Indians[[labelnote:*]]now known as Guardians[[/labelnote]] shortstop who was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by the New York Yankees' Carl Mays during an August 16, 1920 game, dying from his injuries the next day. The incident immediately led umpires to replace balls at the first sign of wear, and soon led to the outlawing of the spitball, contributing to the offensive explosion symbolized by Creator/BabeRuth.[[note]]Before this incident, pitchers routinely soiled baseballs with substances such as soil, licorice, and tobacco juice, and also regularly cut and scuffed them, leading to an increasingly dark and misshapen ball that became difficult to see in low light. Eyewitnesses indicated that Chapman did not react to the fatal pitch, suggesting that he literally couldn't see it.[[/note]] Nearly a century later, it became the subject of the short film ''Film/TheBeaning'', which makes the totally fictional suggestion that the incident was actually a Satanic sacrifice ritual by the Yankees.
177	* 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.
178	* In March 2014, Dennis Munson Jr. died during his amateur bout. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put together a ten minute [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaK-rBBMd6Q video]] about all the warning signs that had been missed and all the things that had been wrong (i.e. not heeding any one of those warning signs) during the bout. In addition, Munson had been severely dehydrated to make weight and was suffering from rhabdomyolysis when the bout happened.
179	* Not only boxers and wrestlers are at risk. On July 28, 1982, fencers Matthias Behr of West Germany and Vladimir Smirnov of the Soviet Union were facing off in the team foil events. Both attacked into each other, and during the action, Behr's blade broke, pierced Smirnov's mask, and went [[EyeScream through his eye orbit]] into his brain. Smirnov was kept on life support for nine days so he would not die during the tournament. Since this incident, safety standards have been increased dramatically.
180	* Pro wrestler Gary Albright died of a heart attack after taking a cutter from Lucifer Grimm in a January 7, 2000 WXW match. An autopsy discovered evidence of diabetes, blocked coronary arteries, and an enlarged heart.
181	* Pro wrestler Oro died on October 26, 1993 in an EMLL match after taking a standard clothesline and responding with a "Kobashi bump," taking the fall on his head and neck. He suffered what is believed to be an aneurysm and collapsed, dying before reaching a waiting ambulance.
182	* Pro wrestler Moondog Spot died on November 29, 2003 from a heart attack in the ring during a Jerry Lawler birthday show.
183	* Pro wrestler "Lethal" Larry Cameron worked for Stampede, WWF, WCW, NJPW, and CWA, where he suffered a fatal heart attack in a match with Tony St. Clair on September 13, 1993.
184	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Ray_Robinson Sugar Ray Robinson]] was going to back out of his June 25 1947 fight with Jimmy Doyle on the basis of a dream where he killed Doyle in the ring. He was convinced to go through with it and beat Doyle with an 8th-round knockout. Later that night, he was informed that Doyle had died in hospital. Robinson gave the prize money from his next four fights to Doyle's mother to fulfil Jimmy's promise to buy her a house with his earnings.
185	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CasualtyInTheRing