Portuguese welterweight Joao Carvalho died on Monday night (April 11, 2016) after last weekend’s technical knockout (TKO) loss to Charlie Ward at the Total Extreme Fighting (TEF) Championship event inside the National Boxing Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
But was his death preventable?
Immediately after the contest and long before Carvalho began to feel ill, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor — cageside to coach his SBG Ireland teammate — suggested the fight may have gone on a bit longer than necessary.
“Your man [Carvalho] took some big shots,” McGregor told MMAConnectTV (via The Independent). “Thought it could have been stopped a little earlier. I feel these referees need to be on the ball a little bit.”
He’s not the only one.
“There were eight or nine blows from on top of him, but the referee should have stopped that,” Ward’s father, Charlie Ward Sr. told RTE Radio 1 (via NY Post). “He knew he had the fight won, maybe the referee should have come in a bit quicker.”
All safety protocols were reportedly followed before, during, and after the bout, and Carvalho was alert and talking following his defeat. His condition quickly deteriorated and the Team Nobrega fighter was rushed to the hospital.
A Go Fund Me campaign has been started to aid with his family’s expenses here.