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LAS VEGAS, Sept. 22 - Leavander Johnson, who complained when the referee stopped his valiant effort to retain the IBF lightweight title last Saturday, lost another brave battle at 4:23 pm this afternoon and died of the brain wounds he received five days ago at the MGM Grand against Jesus Chavez.
The 35-year-old veteran from Atlantic City, the father of four children, underwent brain surgery to remove a large blood clot, less than 45 minutes after collapsing in his dressing room. He never regained consciousness.
At death, he was surrounded by his entire family, including his father, Bill, who was also his trainer; his mother, sister, and two brothers, including Craig, who was the fighter's manager. Also, his fiancée, Deatra Nichols, flew in Sunday to keep the bedside vigil.
In a press release issued by DiBella Entertainment, Bill Johnson thanked the boxing community for its prayers and support and mentioned that Chavez, who visited Leavander for three hours at the University Medical Center the day after the fight, was a great champion and "he is blameless in this tragic situation."
Doctors at the University Medical Center here did not hold up much hope of Johnson making it through the first night, when he was put into a chemically induced coma to help reduce the swelling and pressure on his brain. But the doctors were "amazed" at the improvement overnight.
After another day or so of hope, Johnson's condition turned for the worse last night, said his grief-stricken promoter, Lou DiBella.
There were no immediate announcements as to funeral plans. DiBella said a "Leavander Fund" would be set up for the "essential needs and education" of Leavander's four children. They are Leavander Jr., 16; Tyric, 15, Lance, 7, and Latyah, 4.
DiBella said executives from HBO, Showtime and the MGM Grand all promised to support the fund. For the Chavez fight, his first defense, Johnson earned his richest purse, $150,000, before deductions - including three percent sanctioning fee to the IBF.
Already, there were calls for the IBF to donate its fees - including those from Chavez and the promoters, Golden Boy - to the Johnson fund.
Johnson was the second boxer to die in Las Vegas in less than four months. Martin Sanchez of Mexico City died July 2 of injuries suffered July 1 in a fight against Rustam Nugaev.
Dr. Tony Alamo, one of the five members of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, said he was "agonizing" whether everything was done to help Johnson. He said Johnson, who took a beating in a previous title defense in 2003 against Javier Jauregui, came to Las Vegas with an MRI taken within the last year and had up-to-date CAT Scans.
Alamo found no fault in the stoppage by Referee Tony Weeks at 38 seconds of the 11th round, or in the fact that chief ringside physician, Dr. Margaret Goodman, a neurologist known to be very quick to stop bouts, let the match continue after examining Johnson following the tenth round.
Alamo said it seemed everything was done "properly," but said it was boxing.
Johnson, who turned pro in 1989 and finished with a 34-5-2 record with 26 knockouts, won his title exactly three months earlier. It was his fourth attempt at winning a world title. He went to Milano and beat Stefano Zoff of Italy.
DiBella had Johnson introduced to a New York City boxing crowd as a world champion. "He told me it was the proudest moment of my life," DiBella said, sobbing. "He was the nicest kid."
It wasn't easy getting fights for Johnson, a tall, lanky technician with a good jab and hurtful right hand. Carl Moretti, vice president and matchmaker for Main Events, said "we never went near him" with champions from John John Molina to Vivian Harris. In his previous appearance at the MGM, 12 years ago, Johnson knocked out Sharmba Mitchell - still mentioned as a possible opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But it was his heart that made him special. He absorbed a terrible beating from the smaller Chavez, a former junior lightweight titlist, but argued even after Weeks stopped the bout that he could go on. His father had asked him after the eighth and ninth rounds if he should stop the bout, but Johnson said he was "wearing him down." After the tenth round, Dr. Goodman went into his corner and allowed the bout to continue.
Goodman talked to Johnson in the ring after the fight and said he was still clear-headed then. But on the way back to his dressing room, followed by Dr. William Berliner of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, his left leg began to drag.
In the room, he complained of headaches before collapsing and being quickly put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital, where, less than 45 minutes after leaving the ring, he was on the operating table for Dr. William Smith to remove a large clot from the right side of the brain. Dr. Smith said the quickness in getting Johnson to the table gave him what chance he had of surviving.
"Certain things were better and some numbers were very good, but he had a complicated situation," Dr. Smith said today. "He suffered a very severe injury. The problem is that the injury was to the brain itself. In some cases, the punishment is absorbed by the skull, but in this young man's case, the brain absorbed the punishment itself.
"We removed a second, small clot on Monday night."
What happened? "His kidneys began to shut down and he experienced renal failure. His other organ systems began shutting down. His heart was not pumping. We had no further mode to improve his prognosis, so the family very correctly (today) made the decision to withdraw care. He passed away very peacefully."
"I didn't think he'd survive the night (on Saturday) after what we saw. The following day, his numbers were close to normal and his brain looked better. Were his chances better at that time than when he came in? Absolutely. There was a reason to be more optimistic. But was he out of the woods? Absolutely not. He developed a reactive cerebral edema."
Caused over time or solely by Saturday's fight? "It's a tough question to answer 100 percent. Certainly, some evidence suggests repeated blows over time will make a person able to resist a major injury less well. His reserves for recovering from this were much less than had he never had taken the blows over time."
One punch or a combination that did it Saturday? "Again, hard to say, but I suspect that it was not a single blow but rather a combination of blows that led to this terribly unfortunate outcome."
Additional reporting by Kevin Iole of the Las Vegas Review Journal and MaxBoxing.com
