Boxer Dies 15 Days After KO

Boxer Stephan Johnson has died after failing to regain consciousness from a brain injury in a Nov. 20 fight.

A trauma physician at Atlantic City Medical Center pronounced the 31-year-old fighter dead at 5:45 p.m. Sunday, the Atlantic County medical examiner said.

Neither the medical examiner nor the hospital would immediately disclose the official cause of death.

Johnson, of New York, was taken to the hospital on a stretcher after being knocked out by Paul Vaden in the 10th round of a USBA junior middleweight title fight.

"It's just devastating whenever this happens to anybody in the sport," Vaden's co-manager, Craig Hamilton, said after learning of the death. "It's a terrible thing for him, for his family, for the sport. I just wish we could find a way to avoid these situations."

Johnson bled between his brain and his skull, with swelling on the left side of the brain. Doctors drilled two holes in his skull to drain fluid and relieve pressure, but he remained in critical condition, hooked up to respirator for weeks.

Johnson, who worked as a physical fitness trainer at the Equinox health clubs in New York, turned professional in 1987 and had a record of 27-8-1. He had sustained a head injury in an April 14 fight in Toronto but was released from a hospital within hours.

Under Ontario boxing rules, he was automatically suspended from fighting or training for 60 days. But the ban did not extend to New Jersey.

Johnson won two fights after the Canadian ban and underwent a CAT scan before the Vaden fight. It showed no brain damage, said his manager, Kenneth Woods.

Woods urged Johnson to quit boxing. However, Woods said Johnson wanted to make more money so he could move his mother from her project in New York. He was to have earned $10,000 for the Vaden fight.

"I always told him that there are other ways, he doesn't have to risk his life," his mother, Ira Johnson, told The Philadelphia Inquirer after the Vaden fight. "There are other occupations. I wanted him to get out of boxing."

He was leading on two of the three judges' cards when Vaden knocked him out during their scheduled 12-rounder at Trump Taj Mahal. Johnson's head struck the bottom rope in the ring before hitting the canvas.

Ringside physicians rushed to his aid, strapping him to a stretcher and taking him to the hospital.

©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed