26-year-old Russian boxer Arest Saakyan died after suffering a life-altering knockout loss against Igor Semernin on December 26 2021 in Rave Boxing Club, Tolyatti. Despite battling 10 days in the coma, Saakyan breathed his last a few days back in what became the first boxing fatality of 2022.

Saakyan was coming off a TKO win over Khuan Yuldashev, but Igor Semernin became the first and only person to stop Saakyan in the ring. Retaining a 100% KO ratio, Igor Semernin put his clinical power to the display and outworked his opponent for the entire eight rounds.

In the final round, Semernin dropped a left-hand shot on Saakyan and fed him to the canvas. Saakyan laid on the mat for a long time and was taken to the hospital in an unconscious state. Ten days since then, the boxer breathed his last, leaving the entire boxing family in shock and agony.

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The main-event fight ended unexpectedly. RAVE Promotions, per Box Rec, had hosted the event and the local show didn’t gain so much attention until the unfortunate demise of Arest Saakyan shook up everyone. It raises the credibility of local promoters to provide adequate medical safety to the boxers. While Arest Saakyan reportedly lost his life to cerebral edema, his sister criticized the referee and management for not taking proper actions during the fight.

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Svetlana Petoryan, the late pugilist’s sister, spoke with REN TV exclusively. She said her brother took the fight under short notice and went through sheer weight changes in 14 days. She also blamed the referee for not stopping the fight while Arest Sakyan was already raking too much punishment.

“On the 19th minute… It had been bad… Commentary crew said it should have been stopped at that moment. But no one had halted the contest. They saw he wasn’t in [good] shape. It was obvious the fight should have been stopped because he had been too bad [of shape]. He was out of it at that moment,” said Svetlana Petoryan.

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The footage of the fight has left several fans in shock. It was definitely a lopsided fight that went away from Saakyan’s side after the fifth round. He was wobbled badly but could make it till the final round. Nevertheless, it didn’t turn out to be a good decision for him.