Prichard Colón, once an undefeated welterweight prospect from Puerto Rico, has died at age 33, nearly a decade after a brutal 2015 fight left him with permanent brain damage.
His father, Richard Colón, shared the news in a Facebook post written in Spanish, saying he had tried everything to grant his son’s final wish of visiting Puerto Rico one more time, but it never came to pass.
Colón entered his October 2015 bout against Terrel Williams in Fairfax, Virginia, with a spotless 16-0 record and 13 knockouts to his name. He was widely seen as one of the sport’s rising stars.
During the fight, he repeatedly told his corner he was taking shots to the back of his head, a foul that referees are supposed to penalize. In the ninth round, Colón went down. Confusion broke out at ringside as his corner, apparently thinking the bout was over, began removing his gloves. He was then disqualified.
Life After the Injury
What followed was a medical emergency that changed everything. Colón underwent emergency surgery for a severe brain bleed and spent 221 days in a coma.
When he finally left the hospital in 2016, he could no longer walk or speak the way he once had, and he needed round-the-clock care for the rest of his life. He spent his final years in a persistent vegetative state, looked after by his family.
A state investigation released in 2016 concluded that while the outcome was tragic, no single party’s actions were clearly egregious enough to assign blame. That didn’t stop Colón’s parents from pursuing legal action.
In 2017, they filed a $50 million lawsuit against the ringside physician and the fight’s promoters.
Tributes Pour In From the Boxing World
Word of Colón’s passing drew tributes from across the sport. The World Boxing Organization called him a warrior whose courage and fighting spirit outlasted his time in the ring. Both the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association echoed that sentiment, each describing him as a true warrior in statements posted online.
For Terrel Williams, the man across the ring that night, the fight became a defining trauma of its own. He stepped away from the sport for two years afterward and largely avoided the spotlight.
He eventually returned to competition in 2017 despite objections from some in Colón’s family, fought only a handful of times, and retired for good in 2019. He has kept a low profile ever since.
Colón’s death closes a painful chapter in boxing that pushed renewed scrutiny of how the sport protects its fighters, a conversation that outlasted his decade-long fight for life.
