By Edward Chaykovsky
According to Filipino media giant ABS-CBN, a boxing fanatic in Cotabato City in the Philippines literally died of cardiac arrest after ring announcer Michael Buffer had revealed that Nonito Donaire had lost a twelve round unanimous decision, and his WBO super bantamweight title, to Jessie Magdaleno. The scores were 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110.
The fight had taken place on the undercard to Manny Pacquiao's decision win over Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The fan was a retired police chief inspector, identified by ABS-CBN as Wales Kasuyo. The 62-year-old Kasuyo, who family members told the outlet was a boxing fanatic, suddenly fell down after suffering from chest pains, just a few minutes after Donaire had lost the fight, according to his wife Lilian.
His wife revealed that Kasuyo had been under treatment and taking maintenance medicine for hypertension since 2010. The remains of Kasuyo were laid to rest in Nuling, Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao on Sunday, according to Muslim tradition.
This type of tragic occurrence has happened several times in the Philippines, usually during a Pacquiao fight. Fans back in the Philippines get very worked up and emotional during major fights. Older fans and those with health problems have also died in similar incidents during Pacquiao's fights. There have also been several murders when fans would get into heated arguments during Pacquiao's events.
Speaking of Pacquiao and fans getting worked up, ABS-CBN reports that two other fans died while watching Pacquiao's win over Vargas.
One identified man had reportedly fainted inside a gym while watching the bout and was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital. Another still unidentified fan was also declared dead on arrival, but the details of his death were not disclosed.
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