The boxing world was floored last week by the news of Errol Spence Jr’s car accident. Footage showed the welterweight champ ejected from his Ferrari before the sports car flipped over and immolated into a blistering inferno. Miraculously, “The Truth” survived the whole ordeal without breaking a bone.
Unfortunately, not all fighters are as lucky as Spence. For whatever reason, boxing has a grim history with vehicular mishaps. The heartbreaking irony is that these athletes have survived and thrived in arguably the most dangerous arena in sports, just to lose their health, their careers, and even their lives in car accidents.
Diego Corrales
Famous for his legendary rivalries with Jose Luis Castillo and Joel Casamayor, Diego “Chico” Corrales was one of the fiercest lightweights in the mid-2000’s who was known for his high-risk, high-reward fighting style.
On May 7, 2007, exactly a month after a tough loss to Joshua Clottey, Corrales was riding his motorcycle near his home in Nevada when he attempted to pass another vehicle at a high speed, but accidentally struck the back of the car and was thrown more than 100 feet into oncoming traffic and struck by another vehicle. Despite the EMTs’ best efforts, “Chico” died on his way to the hospital. A blood test revealed an alcohol level three times the legal limit.
Roberto Duran
Unlike his iconic 1980 fight against Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran refused to say “no mas” after being gravely injured in a 2001 car accident in Buenos Aires.
In a documentary adapted from his autobiography, I Am Duran, the “Hands of Stone” claims he was “dead on an operating table for 30 seconds” following the accident. The accident forced the aging fighter to finally retire. Since making a full recovery, he’s been elected to the boxing Hall-of-Fame and is still flying high as a licensed aircraft pilot in his native Panama.
Vinny Paz
If any road to recovery would serve as a roadmap for Spence, it would be Vinny Paz’s. In 1991, the then-named Vinny Pazienza was riding shotgun when a large van struck the vehicle head-on. He was told he was lucky to be alive, and it would be a miracle for him to walk again. Getting back in the ring again seemed like a pipe-dream.
Fourteen months later, he was not only boxing again, but once again a world champion. Paz’s storybook life would inspire a 2016 movie, Bleed for This, starring Miles Teller as the “Pazmanian Devil.”
According to NY Fights, the Rhode Island legend is still in the fight game, recently training Roberto Duran Jr and has no regrets. “I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for my fans. I gave them what they wanted to see,” Paz said.
Marcos Forestal
Marcos Forestal took the ultimate “L” when he decided to drive drunk. The budding super bantamweight from Cuba claimed the life of Krystil Kincaid in a head-on collision in 2018. Only 29 years old, the victim was a mother of three and eight months pregnant with a fourth. The unborn child did not survive.
Forestal live-streamed the crash after the accident where you can see a police officer ask him if he’s “okay?” “Yes… not really good,” he responds.
Forestal eventually pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and is serving a 10-year sentence. The victim’s husband, Zach Kincaid, was on the phone with her during the accident, heard her heart-wrenching screams moments before her death. Hoping no one else would experience the same thing, Kincaid is now an activist for stricter DUI laws in California.
Masao Ohba
Using boxing to escape his father’s gambling debts, Japanese flyweight Masao Ohba was a world titleholder at 20. A long, prosperous career was cut short in 1973 when his Corvette was struck by an eleven-ton truck, killing him at the young age of 23. The tragic accident was just after he bought his parents a house.
Ohba is posthumously nicknamed the “Eternal Champion” as he died without losing his belt. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015.
Salvador Sanchez
Eerily similar to Ohba, legendary Mexican featherweight Salvador Sanchez was another boxing prodigy that died at age 23 while still holding his title. Shortly after stopping Hall-of-Famer Azumah Nelson to defend his WBC strap, Sanchez crashed his Porsche 928 on the highway, dying instantly.
Historians claim that Sanchez would have been the featherweight GOAT. He already had a stellar 44-1-1 in his career with numerous wins over future Hall of Famers and was already an all-time great by the time he was barely of legal drinking age.
