For Sherif Lawal, his first professional boxing match ends in tragedy. The middleweight is knocked out and dies shortly afterwards
The boxing world mourns the death of its next fighter. Middleweight Sherif Lawal tragically died on Sunday after collapsing in the ring on his professional debut.
The 28-year-old lost consciousness during the fight against his Portuguese opponent Malam Varela at the Harrow Leisure Centre in London when the latter hit him with a blow to the temple.
Boxing News Online reports that the referee of the fight began the count before stopping the bout when it became clear that Lawal was in trouble. Lawal is said to have been a member of the St. Pancras Amateur Boxing Club.
Doctors fight for Lawal’s life
According to eyewitnesses quoted by The Sun, doctors performed CPR in the ring and battled for the boxer’s life for 20 minutes before he was taken to nearby Northwick Park Hospital. A short time later, the 28-year-old was pronounced dead by the doctors.
The other scheduled fights of the evening were canceled after the tragic incident
Sherif had been boxing since 2018. He ended his amateur career and announced earlier this year that he wanted to turn professional. At the time, trainer CJ Hussein, who also trained Tyson Fury’s 2009 opponent John McDermott, said: “I think professional boxing suits Sherif perfectly, he has the talent to become a great middleweight. “
Boxers mourn the loss of Lawal
On X, formerly Twitter, fellow boxer Denzel Bentley posted a heartbroken emoji and wrote: “Last night I was at a boxing event and a young man making his debut lost his life.”
Anees Taj, whose cruiserweight fight was canceled, wrote on Facebook: “I was supposed to box tonight but the fight was canceled. Sherifdeen Lawal made his debut and collapsed in the ring and I was just informed that he passed away.”
He later added: “Following the events of last night, my amateur club St Albans & London Colney ABC would like to extend its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sherif Lawal and his amateur and professional trainers at St Pancras Boxing Club. You are all in our thoughts and prayers. “
