Boxer Dies From Injuries Suffered in Bout

A light-heavyweight boxer, comatose for six days after he was knocked out in the waning seconds of a nationally televised 10-round fight, has died from his injuries.

Beethavean Scottland, 26, was pronounced dead Monday night at the Bellevue Hospital Center. Scottland, who underwent two surgeries at the hospital, never regained consciousness.

The fighter was survived by his wife, Denise, their three children and a large extended family. Many of his family members stood vigil at his hospital bed in the days after the June 26 fight.

Scottland was knocked out by a left-right combination with 37 seconds left in his 10-round bout with undefeated George Khalid Jones. He initially was able to answer questions in the ring, but fell unconscious within minutes.

The fighter was rushed to Bellevue, where his condition deteriorated the next 48 hours.

Scottland becomes the first boxer to die in New York since 1989. Super-middleweight John Gross died of similar head injuries suffered in his bout.

On April 21, Cresencio Mercado, 19, died of a brain injury in Pueblo, Colo., a week after collapsing in the ring. On Feb. 16, Quinton Grier, 31, collapsed in the ring at the end of a bout and died of unknown causes in Joplin, Mo.

Scottland (20-7-2) viewed the fight against Jones as the biggest bout of his career. His addition to the ESPN2 card aboard the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum was the result of two twists of fate.

First, his fight against an opponent in Maryland was canceled when the other fighter suffered an injury.

That cleared the way for Scottland to fight Jones, whose opponent had suffered a broken nose during training.

Scottland suffered a subdural hematoma, a rupture of the veins between the brain and the skull.