Prichard Colon Dies at 33, Eleven Years After Illegal Punches Left Him in a Coma

Prichard Colon, once a 16-0 welterweight prospect from Puerto Rico, died Thursday at 33. His father, Richard Colon, who also served as his coach, confirmed the death in a Facebook post written in Spanish.

"Good morning, my people," he wrote, according to translations carried by Newsweek and The Ring. "I regret to inform you of the passing of my son Prichard from this earthly world. He is now in a better place. I did everything possible to fulfill his wish, his dream of bringing him on vacation to Puerto Rico as he so deeply wanted, but it could not be done. Thank you for so many years of love and prayers."

No cause of death has been released. Hindustan Times reported there was no separate, specific medical cause given beyond the ongoing effects of the 2015 brain injury he never recovered from.

What happened in the ring

Colon's story goes back to October 17, 2015, in Fairfax, Virginia, when he faced Terrel Williams. According to India Today and Hindustan Times, Colon repeatedly complained to the referee about being hit in the back of the head, and the referee warned Williams about the blows during the fight. Williams also was penalized twice for low blows.

In the ninth round, Colon went down. His corner, apparently believing the bout was over, pulled off his gloves. Colon was then ruled disqualified rather than the fight being stopped in his favor.

He collapsed in the locker room afterward, vomiting before losing consciousness. Doctors found a subdural hematoma, bleeding around the brain, and performed emergency surgery, including a hemicraniectomy to relieve pressure, according to Hindustan Times. He spent 221 days in a coma before leaving the hospital in May 2016.

He never walked or spoke normally again. He communicated through computer assistance and responded to verbal cues, something his mother, Nieves, documented in a 2018 video showing him following simple commands, as reported by Newsweek.

The unresolved lawsuit

In 2017, Colon's parents sued the ringside doctor and the fight's promoters, seeking more than $50 million, according to Hindustan Times, which cited court records tying the case directly to the brain injury from that night. Newsweek reported that Nieves has said the litigation may never be fully resolved. No verdict or settlement has been publicly reported in any of the current coverage.

A referee warned a fighter about illegal blows to the head during a nationally sanctioned bout. The fight continued, and the man who took those blows spent the rest of his short life in a persistent vegetative state. Whether medical and officiating decisions that night met the standard of care is exactly what a decade-old lawsuit was supposed to determine, but nobody outside the family and the courts appears to know where that case currently stands.

Tributes from boxing's governing bodies

WBO president Gustavo Olivieri issued a statement carried by The Ring and Irish Star: "It is with profound sorrow that the World Boxing Organization (WBO) has received the news of the passing of Prichard Colón, shared today by his father through social media... Prichard's life was defined by courage, perseverance, and an extraordinary fighting spirit."

A separate WBO statement quoted by Hindustan Times called him "a warrior until the very end" and said his fight "became a testament to resilience and the unwavering love of his family."

A career cut short at 23

Colon turned pro young and built a 16-0 record with 13 knockouts before the Williams fight, which remains the only loss on his record. He was 23 when his career, and effectively his life as he knew it, ended in that Virginia ring.

The coverage across outlets is largely consistent on the facts: the illegal blows, the referee's warnings, the disqualification, the collapse, the coma, and the decade of round-the-clock care his parents provided. TMZ was alone in describing his exact cause of death as simply "unclear" without noting the lawsuit at all, while Newsweek and Hindustan Times both flagged that no specific medical cause has been disclosed publicly.

What happens to the 2017 lawsuit now that the plaintiff's son has died remains an open question. His family has said they intend to keep pursuing it. Whether Virginia boxing regulations or refereeing standards changed as a result of what happened to Colon in 2015 has not been addressed in current reporting.