A young boxer has died after being injured in his first fight just two weeks before his birthday.
Kuba Moczyk, 22, was knocked unconscious by a single punch during the final round of a boxing match in Great Yarmouth on Saturday.
It is the second tragedy to hit British boxing in a matter of weeks, after Dundee fighter Mike Towell died following a bout in Glasgow at the end of September.
Mr Moczyk was taken to James Paget University Hospital where he was unresponsive in intensive care with a bleed on the brain, and died on Wednesday evening.
His twin sister Magdalena Moczyk had set up a GoFundMe page called “Wake up Kuba” in order to raise £20,000 for specialist treatment abroad.
She managed to raise more than £4,000 before he died surrounded by family.
On the page she wrote that the pair’s birthday was just days away on December 4, adding “my heart bleeds just thinking of it”.
Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury told local boxing events promoter Leon Docwra he was “devastated” by the news, while friends revealed their shock on social media and paid tributes.
Mr Docrwa, 41, told the Press Association he had trained Mr Moczyk three years ago, and remembered him as a “happy, smiling” person who “did not have a nasty streak in his body”.
Of the fight he said: “It was a big thing for him to do. He plucked up courage and got lots of support and everyone was cheering him on.
“And that was his first and final fight.”
He said he believed Mr Moczyk’s opponent was just 17 years old.
A minute’s silence will be held in the 22-year-old’s memory at an event in Gorleston-On-Sea on Thursday night which Fury is due to attend, he added.
