Prichard Colón, considered a Puerto Rican boxing prospect who suffered irreversible brain damage from blows received during a 2015 match, passed away this Thursday. He was 33 years old.
“I regret to inform you of the departure of my son Prichard from this earthly world. HE IS NOW in a better world. I did everything possible to fulfill HIS WISH, HIS DREAM of bringing him ON VACATION to Puerto Rico (…) but IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE. Thank you for so many years of love and prayers,” wrote his father, Richard Colón, on his Facebook account.
Further details about the death in Florida of the former boxer from Orocovis, a municipality in central Puerto Rico, are unknown. His family used to share videos of Colón, in which he was seen doing rehabilitation therapy, celebrating with family, and going to basketball games.
“Good afternoon, here with the champion Prichard Colón, preparing for his therapy. He hears the word therapy and says ‘no’. He doesn’t like it, but we know it’s for his own good. We want to let you know that we are very grateful for all your prayers and that we love you, from where? From here to heaven,” a family member is heard saying in one of those videos.
The night of October 17, 2015, forever marked Colón’s life and career. He entered the ring undefeated at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, to face American Terrel Williams. But the blows he received near the neck during the match, which was not stopped by the referee, caused him irreversible brain injuries.
After the fight, he experienced vomiting and dizziness and collapsed in the locker room, recalls the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día. He was taken to the hospital, where he spent more than 200 days in a coma. After partially recovering, he began a long rehabilitation with the help of his mother, Nieves Meléndez.
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“A warrior inside and outside the ring”
Within boxing and in Puerto Rico, he was always remembered over the years. In 2021, he was declared an honorary champion by the World Boxing Council, and local media followed up on an operation in which a plate was placed in his skull to compensate for a depression caused by previous interventions.
This Thursday, he was again remembered with affection and respect. “He was a quality boxer, in that group with Jeyvier Cintrón and (Jesús) Verdejo. He, in the end, didn’t make it (because of what happened in his last boxing match). But he was part of that elite group, and he had started his professional career well. It’s unfortunate,” said former World Boxing Organization president Francisco Valcárcel to the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día.
Precisely, Cintrón studied with Colón and remembers him as a charismatic and fighting colleague. “I was surprised at how he could laugh despite everything that happened to him. He was a warrior inside and outside the ring. (…) He is resting in peace after days of struggle,” he told the same newspaper.
“I saw Prichard when he was little. (…) He was a world champion prospect. That’s how I saw him,” said Félix Trinidad, former trainer and father of former Puerto Rican champion Félix ‘Tito’ Trinidad, to El Nuevo Día.
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