Maxim Dadashev’s Trainer Tried Stopping Fight Two Rounds Earlier

On Tuesday, sad news came out that boxer Maxim Dadashev had passed away due to the injuries he sustained in his last fight.

After the 11th round, Dadashev’s trainer in Buddy McGirt stopped the fight, and his pupil had trouble leaving the ring. He then collapsed backstage and was put on a stretcher before being rushed to a hospital. Following surgery and an induced coma, Dadshaev passed away. Now, McGirt opened up on the tragic passing in a recent interview:

“It just makes you realize what type of sport we’re in, man,” McGirt told ESPN. “He did everything right in training — no problems, no nothing. My mind is, like, really running crazy right now. Like, what could I have done differently? But at the end of the day, everything was fine [in training]. He seemed OK. He was ready. But it’s the sport that we’re in. It just takes one punch, man.”

Although Dadshev shook his head to not stop the fight, McGirt said he knew he was going to throw the towel in and thought of doing so at the end of the 9th and 10th round:

“I saw him fading, and when he came back to the corner [after the 11th round], my mind was already made up,” McGirt said. “I was just asking him out of respect, but my mind was made up. I wasn’t going to let him go out there.”