Boxer Patrick Day died from brain injuries on Wednesday after suffering a knockout loss on Saturday, ESPN reports. Promoter Lou DiBella said the 27-year-old junior middleweight died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “On behalf of Patrick's family, team, and those closest to him, we are grateful for the prayers, expressions of support and outpouring of love for Pat that have been so obvious since his injury,” DiBella said in a statement. “Pat's kindness, positivity, and generosity of spirit made a lasting impression with everyone he met.”
Day was knocked out in the 10th round of a fight after 2016 U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell threw two right punches and a left hook. Day's head slammed on the boxing ring floor, and the referee immediately stopped the fight. Medical personnel surrounded Day, and he was promptly taken out of the ring and into an ambulance. The boxer never regained consciousness before slipping into a coma and undergoing emergency brain surgery. Two days before Day's death, Conwell posted a letter to his opponent on social media. “I never meant for this to happen to you,” Conwell wrote. “All I ever wanted to do was win. If I could take it all back I would. No one deserves for this to happen to them.” This is the third brain-injury death in boxing this year, with Maxim Dadashev and Hugo Alfredo Santillán both passing away in July.