Maxim Dadashev, Russian Boxer, Dead at 28 After Suffering Brain Injury

Russian boxer Maxim Dadshev died Tuesday after suffering a brain injury during a match in Maryland Friday evening, the Russian Boxing Federation announced Tuesday. The 28-year-old’s death reportedly happened “as a result of injuries suffered” in his fight with Subriel Matias.

“The Russian Boxing Federation expresses deep condolences to Maxim’s family and friends,” the federation said in a statement.

The Russian Boxing Federation’s secretary general, Umar Kremlev, said the federation would investigate whether anyone was at fault for Dadashev’s death.

“We need to know the truth about what happened,” Kremlev wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “I believe that some human factors intervened, that there was some kind of violation.”

He added the federation would give Dadashev’s family financial support.

The Russian embassy in the U.S. said in a statement on Facebook it is “ready to provide any necessary assistance for (Dadashev’s) repatriation to Russia.”

The Russian-born fighter boxed against Matias at the Theater in MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill on Friday, losing the IBF light-welterweight fight after previously being undefeated at 13-0. Before Friday’s fight, he had won 11 of his 13 fights by way of knockout.

He was hospitalized shortly after the match, which was stopped by his trainer Buddy McGirt in the 11th round after Dadashev took numerous hits to the head, according to the AP. Footage from the match shows McGirt begging Dadashev to stop the fight. “You’re getting hit too much, Max. Please, Max, please let me do this,” McGirt told him. The referee stopped the match at McGirt’s request.

“He was a very kind person who fought until the very end,” Dadashev’s wife, Elizaveta Apushkina, said in a statement, per the AP. “Our son will continue [to] be raised to be a great man like his father. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone that cared for Maxim during his final days.”

At press time, a GoFundMe campaign set up to help raise money for Dadashev’s family and funeral expenses had raised $2,840 of its $20,000 goal.

In a statement, promotor Top Rank called Dadashev “a talented fighter inside the ring and a loving husband and father outside the ropes.”