Thoughts on a boxing death

 In the aftermath of the death of 18-year-old Mexican boxer Jeanette Zacarias Zapata after a fight in Montreal against Canadian Marie Pier Houle, the criticism that’s been leveled at the promoter who made the fight and the commission that approved it is neither unfair nor misplaced.

And yet ... you know what we say about hindsight. Had that same matchup been made here in New Mexico, and had I been aware of it as a reporter, I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye. I’m not aware that anyone did so in this instance.

Maybe I’ve been involved in boxing for too long, or perhaps with one eye closed. And maybe I’m not alone.

Certainly, Zacarias Zapata’s death was both tragic and preventable. 

“Better commission could have prevented this from happening in Canada ...” wrote Albuquerque’s Andy Rivera, a boxing writer and a former amateur boxer, on Facebook. “If commissions would truly look at records and quit letting local promoted fighter A have a huge advantage over fighter B things like this can be avoided.”

From the Mexico City newspaper El Universal: “The promotional firm in charge of the event, the Yvon Michel Group, was a target of criticism regarding the level between one combatant and the other, given that the Mexican woman had lost her last two bouts by knockout.”

And from Lou DiBella, a top-level boxing promoter and the former director of boxing programming for HBO, on Twitter: “I can’t stop thinking about this 18 yr old young woman. She deserved so much better from a sport she loved, a sport systemically incapable of protecting her and loving her back.”

Nail on the head there: such mismatches are baked into the culture and the business of the sport. 

Here, though, it needs to be said that most ring deaths are not the result of mismatched four-rounders like that in Montreal on Aug. 28. More often, it’s the brutal longer fights — some one-sided, others pitched battles — that turn tragic. 

Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim, Nov. 13, 1982: Mancini won by KO in the 14th round. Kim’s resultant death prompted the reduction of title fights from 15 rounds to 12. 

Gabe Ruelas-Jimmy Garcia, May 6, 1995: this was a one-sided fight, won by Ruelas via 11th-round TKO. Garcia died from his injuries 13 days later.

 I witnessed this one in Las Vegas, because Albuquerque’s Johnny Tapia fought on the card that night. I remember Mitch Halpern, a highly respected referee (who later officiated the 1998 Tapia-Danny Romero fight in Vegas), watching carefully and being ready to step in and stop the bout. Yet, each time that was close to happening, Garcia would rally just enough to persuade Halpern a stoppage wasn’t necessary.

It’s boxing, after all. It’s a known scientific/medical fact that repeated blows to the head aren’t good for one’s health — short or long term. But, it’s boxing.

Let us, though, get back to the issue at hand: Zacarias Zapata’s preventable death and why such mismatches happen. 

I know nothing about the Quebec Boxing Commission, but I’ve long been aware of French Canadian promoter Yvon Michel. To my knowledge and understanding, he has an excellent reputation within the sport.

Yet, like most promoters, he has a vested interest in advancing the careers of the fighters with whom he has a contract. (Houle is a Michel contract fighter.)

Twice, Albuquerque boxer Hector Munoz fought on Michel-promoted cards in Montreal — losing both times to unbeaten Canadian fighters. Though overmatched, Munoz, unlike Zacarias Zapata, was a capable veteran who knew how make an entertaining fight while still protecting himself.

So, how did the Houle-Zacarias Zapata match happen? 

Most often, obvious mismatches in prelim fights occur when a “B” fighter drops out and the promoter is desperate for a replacement — not wanting to deprive the local “A” fighter of a bout and not wanting the paying customer to be unhappy because the card has shrunk from six fights to five or five to four. 

It’s a boxing commission’s job, of course, to see that obvious mismatches don’t happen. Nor does the commission, however, want to screw the promoter — or the customer. 

The Houle-Zacarias Zapata matchup appears to be different, in that the young Mexican woman wasn’t a replacement. But it seems Michel — or, better said, his matchmaker — was having trouble securing opponents for Houle during the pandemic. Boxing, for that matter, was completely shut down in Canada. Michel promoted not a single card in 2020.

Also, Houle is a relatively big female fighter, a welterweight (147 pounds), making her that much more difficult to match.

Houle, in fact, had to travel to Cuernavaca, Mexico (some irony there), to get her most recent bout — a victory  by unanimous decision in November over a Mexican fighter with 6-4-1 record.

Enter Zacarias-Zapata, who, if she indeed was 18 on Aug. 28, began boxing professionally at 15. That shouldn’t have happened even in Mexico, when the required age to turn pro is 16. Here in the U.S., it’s 18.

Zacarias-Zapata won two of her first three fights, all against fighters of similar experience. But, stepping up a level, she lost two bouts by stoppage against more experienced fighters. All five of those bouts were in Mexico.

In Houle, Zacarias-Zapata wasn’t facing a former Olympic champion or a pro contender. According to reports, she had a solid amateur background. As a pro, she was 3-0-1, never having fought beyond six rounds. But, at 31, she’s a mature fighter. Here she was, fighting a teenager.

Yet, I’ve witnessed May-December fights in which it was the older fighter who took the beating. 

I’ve been unable to find video of the entire fight, so I don’t know how much punishment Zacarias-Zapata took before the final onslaught at the end of the second round. In that sequence, Houle landed half a dozen hard, unanswered punches to the head. 

After the bell, Zacarias-Zapata was unable to move. Referee Albert Paludo Jr. waved off the fight. Houle was jubilant, unaware that her opponent was hurt so badly.

Zacarias-Zapata began to convulse, then collapsed. Five days later, she died in a Montreal hospital. Michel and Houle have expressed sorrow, undoubtedly sincere. No one wanted this. 

As a reporter, I’ve always made sure to point out fighters’ records in advance of a card. The reader and potential paying customer, I’ve always figured, can decide for himself/herself whether to buy a ticket based on that information. In covering the fights, I’ve not hesitated to call a mismatch a mismatch. Again, hindsight.

And of course, no one ever expects anyone to die.

What now, then? An inquest into Zacarias-Zapata’s death is already being undertaken. (It should be noted that she underwent a pre-fight neurological exam before being cleared to fight.)

Will anything change, in Montreal or elsewhere, as a result? Likely, the reaction will be similar to that after mass shootings in this country: tears, recriminations, calls for change, then business as usual.

For my part:

Just as commissions have been reluctant to put promoters in a vice, knowing how difficult and thankless the job so often is, so have I. However, I acknowledge here the need to be more proactive — more willing to step outside my role as an objective reporter and, when I see a matchup that raises a red flag, say so. 

See something, say something.

For Jeanette.