Two boxers in Japan have died from brain injuries they incurred in separate bouts throughout the same event in Tokyo, officers mentioned.
Super featherweight Shigetoshi Kotari and light-weight Hiromasa Urakawa, each 28, fought on the same card in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on August 2.
Both have been later rushed to hospital the place that they had brain surgical procedure.
Kotari, who battled to a draw after 12 rounds in opposition to fellow Japanese fighter Yamato Hata, misplaced consciousness quickly after and “passed away at 10:59 pm on August 8,” his M.T boxing fitness center mentioned on its web site Saturday (August 9, 2025).
“He did his best to fight his way through the surgery and treatment he had been receiving at a Tokyo hospital due to acute subdural haematoma,” the fitness center’s put up mentioned.
Urakawa was stopped within the eighth and ultimate spherical in opposition to Yoji Saito and “tragically succumbed to injuries sustained during his fight”, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) mentioned in an Instagram put up on Sunday (August 10, 2025).
Urakawa died on Saturday (August 9, 2025) night time, based on native media reviews.
“This heartbreaking news comes just days after the passing of Shigetoshi Kotari, who died from injuries suffered in his fight on the same card,” the WBO mentioned, including it extends “our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and the Japanese boxing community.”
Tsuyoshi Yasukochi, secretary-general of the Japan Boxing Commission, advised native media after their hospitalisation that it was seemingly “the first time in Japan two fighters underwent skull-opening surgery for injuries stemming from the same event”.
