CEDAR CITY, Utah -- A boxer died Friday night one round into a scheduled six-round bout at Cedar Raceway.
Heavyweight Brad Rone, who was from Cincinnati but lived in Las Vegas, took a punch from his opponent Billy Zumbrun, of Ogden, with about five seconds left in the first round. Less than 10 seconds later, after the bell rang, Rone fell to the canvas.
Rone stopped breathing and was later declared dead at Valley View Medical Center, according to Detective Ross Drishinski, Iron County Sheriff's office medical examiner.
"Right now the speculation is cardiac arrest," Drishinski said.
Rone's body will be transported to the Salt Lake City medical examiner's office, where an autopsy will be performed.
"Brad was a tough, courageous guy. When he went down, (a group of his friends) knew something was wrong," said Bruce Trampler, who described himself as a friend of Rone's.
Trampler said Rone's mother died earlier in the week. Rone, originally from Cincinnati, was fighting to earn money for her funeral, he said.
Rone lay motionless just a few seconds before ring physician Dr. Randy Delcore rushed to his aid. Delcore, assisted by Dr. Jon Tooman, a retired physician, worked feverishly over Rone for several minutes with Delcore doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Tooman performed a chest massage.
"He got a kidney shot at the very end," said Shane Fullmer, one of the two referees working the card. David Butterfield was the referee in the ring for the Zumbrun-Rone fight.
"(The blow) was not hard enough to do any damage," Fullmer said. "They must have a pre-fight physical every fight."
The fight was the third of four scheduled for the night. Officials canceled the final fight.
Heavyweight Brad Rone, who was from Cincinnati but lived in Las Vegas, took a punch from his opponent Billy Zumbrun, of Ogden, with about five seconds left in the first round. Less than 10 seconds later, after the bell rang, Rone fell to the canvas.
Rone stopped breathing and was later declared dead at Valley View Medical Center, according to Detective Ross Drishinski, Iron County Sheriff's office medical examiner.
"Right now the speculation is cardiac arrest," Drishinski said.
Rone's body will be transported to the Salt Lake City medical examiner's office, where an autopsy will be performed.
"Brad was a tough, courageous guy. When he went down, (a group of his friends) knew something was wrong," said Bruce Trampler, who described himself as a friend of Rone's.
Trampler said Rone's mother died earlier in the week. Rone, originally from Cincinnati, was fighting to earn money for her funeral, he said.
Rone lay motionless just a few seconds before ring physician Dr. Randy Delcore rushed to his aid. Delcore, assisted by Dr. Jon Tooman, a retired physician, worked feverishly over Rone for several minutes with Delcore doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Tooman performed a chest massage.
"He got a kidney shot at the very end," said Shane Fullmer, one of the two referees working the card. David Butterfield was the referee in the ring for the Zumbrun-Rone fight.
"(The blow) was not hard enough to do any damage," Fullmer said. "They must have a pre-fight physical every fight."
The fight was the third of four scheduled for the night. Officials canceled the final fight.
