Female Boxer Dies After Bout
Believed To Be First Woman In U.S. To Die In Sanctioned Amateur Fight
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Video Female Boxer Goes Down The Denver, Colo., coroner is investigating why a woman died while taking part in an amateur boxing match. Becky Zerlentes, 34, went down in the middle of her match and later died.
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Becky Zerlentes (AP)
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This image from video shows Becky Zerlentes, left, during a Golden Gloves boxing match against Heather Schmitz Saturday, April 2, 2005, in which she suffered a head injury. Zerlentes died Sunday. (CBS4)
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This video still shows Becky Zerlentes, left, during a boxing match against Heather Schmitz in Denver Saturday, April 2, 2005, in which Zerlentes was knocked out. Zerlentes, 34, died Sunday afternoon. (CBS4)
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"The USA Boxing family's thoughts and prayers go out to Becky's family and husband; we are deeply saddened by this loss," said USA Boxing President Sandy Martinez-Pino.
Zerlentes had won a regional Golden Gloves in 2002, said Jeanne ePriest, chief of officials for Colorado Golden Gloves and the manager of the team with which Zerlentes boxed, Hard Knocks.
She had taken a break from boxing after that win, but then recently resumed the sport, DePriest said.
"This is hard for us," DePriest said. "Everybody in the world loved Becky; she was a very positive woman. Boxing is a one-on-one in the ring, but we are all a team at Hard Knocks."
USA Boxing is the sanctioning body for amateur boxing. The organization lifted its ban on women in 1993 and currently has 2,200 women as registered participants.
Goldsticker said the last death at a USA Boxing event was in February 2001, when heavyweight Quinton Grier, 31, of Springfield, Ill., died after a match.
In June 2003, a 30-year-old Florida mother, Stacy Young, died after she was beaten into a coma during a "Toughman" boxing competition that she had entered on impulse. The Toughman bouts weren't considered professional boxing and weren't regulated by the state of Florida. Young's death marked the 13th related to Toughman since the event began in 1979.
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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