Death in the Ring: Experts describe what went wrong in fatal kickboxing fight at Eagles Club

[Music] Denis Monson jr. made his debut as an amateur kickboxer at Milwaukee's historic Eagles club on a Friday night in March 2014 it would be his last fight the bout was one of 15 on the card that night all under the auspices of Rufus sport the city's leading gym and the area's only major promoter of kickboxing and mixed martial arts in Wisconsin kickboxing is unregulated but those who oversaw the fight all have a long history in the sport the referee was al wiggers with nearly four decades of experience much of it working at Rufus sport events the ringside doctor was Carlos Feliciano was a degree in emergency medicine and his medical director at a testosterone clinic he works out a Rufus sport Munson's corner with Scott Cushman veteran coach and top striking instructor hi Rufus Sport and Joe Nichols his day-to-day coach on the kick boxing team Monson started out fast but faded and collapsed at the end officials running the bout said Monson just looked tired but a dozen independent experts who reviewed this tape said the referee doctor and cornerman all missed key moments when they should have intervened to help Monson [Music] you the first sign of trouble came at the start of the second round Munson staggers slightly as he stands up in his corner in steps in the middle of the Ring experts call this a gait disturbance something ringside doctors referees and others are trained to look for as evidence of a changing condition already it takes a jab he takes a leg kick and then he turns away the rest turns away the african-american kid stumbles he doesn't have a speed under him at that point that's not exhausting that's lack of coordination see he takes it takes a weird step there I would be watching really carefully it was the first indication of a deteriorating fighter as the second round progresses the change in Munson becomes more apparent his feet cross putting him in a vulnerable position doing this as a ringside position for over 20 years and we watch the fights very closely one of the first things you look for is any kind of gait disturbance and when you see a gait disturbance or you see a fighter you know with some balance issue you right away kind of get on the edge of your seat because you're kind of wandering at that point you know was it a shot was there something else that happened was this something you didn't see you really are on the side of caution for an amateur you know especially a first sight guy I'm telling my referees hey this is the guys first fight I rapidly get upset with my referee and then I'll take the heat off the referee and say that the Commission ordered or is the doctor stop it and say well we know that's the way we did it I'd rather stop it too soon and too late in an amateur fight he's stumbling all over his feet all under and that's not that's not just exhaustion usually people move and a coordinated but slow kind of thing they get tagged because they're they're tired and but they're not stumbling you know what I'm saying it's a little bit different [Applause] at the end of round two Munson staggers back to his corner again turns his back goes back and he crosses his feet again he kind of staggers back to the ring and at that point you know I definitely would be in there for evil the doctor Feliciano looks into Munson's corner then to the other corner I would from what I did see if that's like occurred in New Jersey and the ringside physician can enter the ring after round two he then picks up his cell phone taking his eyes off the fighters for about 20 seconds at a time when experts say he should be watching them closely I would also have admonished the referee for not going to check on both corners in between rounds Munson sags as he sits on the stool his coach Cushman pushes up his head and shoulders repeatedly but neither the doctor nor the referee check on munsen's condition as Munson stands for the third round Cushman catches him and helps prop him up it appears the referee and doctor see this but do nothing in the third round experts say the warning signs are even more clear [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he's lot going on this is where this is where I'm getting really concerned to the referee I guess I could see I'll watch him he's seeing what's going on Rufus sport officials would later say Monson was defending himself one basis for keeping a fight going he told him to come on he told him the fight he didn't ask him if he wanted to fight that's two different things [Applause] yeah he's he's really rubbery here this is where L would need to step in maybe even do a standing 8-count ask him a couple questions at this point he's just watching him communication for a referee is very important the referee has got to recognize that why is why is he in the ring if he's not there to protect the health and safety the fighter and what was so disturbing is not only didn't you notice it not only did it progress throughout that second round not only did he stagger to his corner between the second and third round he could barely come out that third round if you see guy stumble like that like he's holding on to the ropes he takes two unsteady steps yeah especially especially with young you know young athletes he's too tough for something good when the bell sounds Munson stumbles back to his corner Cushman steps into the ring wiggers the referee is standing in another corner the doctor looks into Munson's corner and then again picks up his cellphone when a fights over especially when somebody's damaged the referee should be following that fighter back to the corner and checking on now I'll turn the outfit that way and never even looked at them the video shows Munson standing in the corner and then the next moment he's on the ground what happened this video which was submitted to police doesn't show it the video is missing 32 seconds at a critical moment Rufus port officials can't explain the missing footage but say it wasn't deliberate and there was no attempt to cover up a second video also submitted to police fills in the gaps it shows Cushman slapping Munson in the face and holding him up by the neck in face the referee comes over Cushman leans over to signal for medical help but the doctor is looking at a cell phone then the timekeeper taps the doctor on the shoulder Munson collapses we talk about head injuries every minute counts so not only did they spend another how many more minutes it took them to finally get the kid out of there but how many more head shots did the kid take which could have contributed to you know his ultimate demise [Music] the doctor never enters the ring instead Munson has rolled out of the ring and moved to a chair the ambulance crew wants to give oxygen but the doctor says none as needed just prop them up still standing there in the corner Wow at this point I would have had all of my doctors in there we would have been supporting his back we would have had the paramedics come in at that point they would have started him on oxygen we would have put in that collar on him we would put him on a backboard if need be start an IV and basically get him out so all the time it was the first of many delays in getting months in care it would take at least a half hour to get him to the hospital hung up by a snafu with a manual elevator and confusion over the transport by the time Monson made it to the hospital he was in a comatose state he died a few hours later the medical examiner found he died of complications from head trauma

Channel: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Views: 21,434,222

Keywords: 3889980714001, syndicate, MJS, News

Id: CaK-rBBMd6Q

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 15 2014