Korean lightweight Duk Koo Kim is carried from the ring in a coma after being beaten by Ray Mancini on November 13, 1982.

When the fighters came out for the 14th round, Mancini charged forward and hit Kim with a right. Kim reeled back, Mancini missed with a left, and then Mancini hit Kim with another hard right hand. Kim went flying into the ropes, his head hitting the canvas. Incredibly, Kim managed to unsteadily rise to his feet but referee Richard Green stopped the fight and Mancini was declared the winner by TKO nineteen seconds into the 14th round. Minutes after the fight was over, Kim collapsed into a coma.

At the hospital he was found to have a subdural hematoma consisting of 100cc of blood in his brian. Emergency brain surgery was performed at the hospital to try to save him, but that effort proved to be futile and Kim died 4 days after the bout. The neurosurgeon said it was caused by one punch.

Kim’s mother flew from Korea to Las Vegas to be with her son before the life support equipment was turned off. Three months later, she took her own life by drinking a bottle of pesticide. The bout’s referee, Richard Green, committed suicide July 1, 1983

Photo by Jeff Scheid