Jeanette Zacarias Zapata is only 18 years old. She has her whole life ahead of her with or without boxing. On Saturday tragedy struck the boxing community yet again and Zapata is fighting for her life in the hospital in Montreal after suffering injuries in the ring.
Zapata suffered her injuries in the fourth round of her fight against Marie Pier Houle after being on the receiving end of a barrage of power punches. Zapata began convulsing while on her feet and her trainer put her on her back to try and prevent any further damage.
According to Yvon Michel, Zapata never regained consciousness and was rushed to the hospital where she was placed in a medically induced coma. Things looked grim but after some time doctors had seen improvements.
“She was sedated in order to rest her body and her brain,” stated Michel. “The doctors didn’t give her much of a chance (to get out) initially, but they find her situation has improved a lot. The next two to five days will be critical and she will be kept sedated for that period. The next six weeks will then be critical in determining if there is damage and how much damage it has.”
A Go Fund Me has been set up (link at the top of the page) and shared by fighters such as Mikael Zewski to help Zapata and her family in such a dire time. As of the time this write-up was completed the page has raised $5,175.
