Injured young boxer Maquinto passes away

YOUNG Filipino boxer Karlo Maquinto was declared dead on Friday morning by doctors at Far Eastern University- Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation Medical Center in West Fairview, Quezon City (Metro Manila).

According to Maquinto’s manager Anson Tiu Co, the life ventilator support of Maquinto, 21, that kept him alive in the past few days was removed after it failed to show signs of any progress in the boxer’s condition.

Maquinto’s family refused to be interviewed.

A report by GMA 7 said that the young boxer died 10:17am.

Maquinto’s sister Virgie, according to Co, fed the boxer through a tube the other night and with medication his blood pressure had stabilized at 120 over 70.

Co, co-owner of the Cooyeesan Hotel Plaza in Baguio City, is paying for all the hospital expenses since Maquinto was not insured.

The boxer was brought to the medical center in West Fairview in an ambulance on Saturday night after figuring in an eight-round majority draw with Mark Joseph Costa at the Amparo Village in Caloocan City (also in Metro Manila).

He suddenly collapsed on the mat after the fight.

Dr. Rhoby Orata said that a city scan showed that a blood clot has pushed the right side of Maquinto’s brain to the left because of swelling, resulting in a coma.

Maquinto went comatose for sev- eral days and was declared clinically brain dead by Dr. Apollo Trinidad, a neurosurgeon, on Wednesday.

According also to Co, the boxer was fine during the bout and that he did not expect something bad would happen.

Maquinto’s record during his short career showed that he won six bouts with four knockouts and drew one.

The Games and Amusements Board said that all precautionary measures were taken properly during the bout, which was promoted by former world champion Gerry Peñalosa.

Meanwhile, Rep. Amado Bagatsing, the chairman of the House Committee on Games and Amusements, will file a resolution to investigate the case of Maquinto.

Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao of Sarangani province is expected to provide help to his fallen fellow boxer.