What Happened to Prichard Colon (World Boxing Champion)? His Life Changed In a Matter of Seconds

Image source: Totalprosports

Who Is Prichard Colon?

Prichard Colon Melendez, an American boxer’s life changed in a matter of seconds. A single punch caused him his entire professional career and life.

Colon was born in September 19, 1992 in Florida, United States.

He started his amateur career in boxing in Puerto Rico where he was nicknamed ‘Digget’ which was named after the word ‘digger’. 

His physique and 6 feet height was the reason he was called Digget.

He started boxing at a mere age of 10 and gained fame after winning 5 national championships. He had several glorious wins in his amateur career like the 2010 Pan American Youth Championship.

He participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London but lost the third round.

Colon, then decided to begin his professional career at the age of 20, after a record of wins.

Professional Career

His debut fight was on 23 February, 2013 against Xavier La Salle, where Digget knocked his opponent out in the first round itself.

One of his most prominent and important fight was against Vivian Harris in September 2015. Harris was an experienced fighter and Colon shocked the crowds after knocking him out in the fourth round.

The world began to see Prichard Colon’s passion and aggression in his game and he was becoming an overnight star.

After his historical fight against Harris, he was then scheduled to fight against Terrel Willaims.

The fight was not supposed to be originally played and was added since one of the scheduled boxers had backed out due to medical reasons.

Prichard Colon vs Terrel Williams

This fight was one of the most impactful fights held in the history of the boxing sport.

On October 17, 2015, at the Eagle Bank Arena in Virginia, Colon was leading the fight for the first five rounds.

It lasted for nine rounds and throughout the fight Williams had been repeatedly punching Colon at the back of his head. It was called the ‘Rabit Punch’.

This punch was illegal and when Colon informed the referee, Joe Cooper, about the same to which he replied, “You take care of it”.

However, when Colon punched Williams with a low blow, he was penalised with 2 points.

After a few rounds, Colon had been feeling dizzy and approached his team’s doctor who told him to go on after Colon said that he could.

After several illegal blows by Willams, Digget was knocked out in the ninth round. He was disqualified since his team had thought that the fight was over and he had removed his gloves.

This was Colon’s first loss in his professional career. He had fought 17 fights and won all of them but the winning spree ended on an extremely tragic note.

After the fight, Colon was finding it difficult to even walk back to the dressing room and had been vomiting continuously.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was diagnosed with brain bleeding.

After an emergency operation, the famous Digget was now in coma.

Prichard Colon’s Recovery

The Digget was in coma for 221 days.

He was initially receiving treatment in a hospital at Virginia and was then transferred to Shepherd Centre in Georgia.

After getting out of coma, he was moved to his mother’s home in Florida.

The news in April 2017 was that Colon was in a vegetative state. This normally occurs after a patient is out of coma. He was partially awake and not fully conscious.

At the same time, Colon’s parents decided to file a 50 million dollar lawsuit claiming for the damages caused.

Even after a year and a half of the fight, Colon was unresponsive. He was not on a ventilator but breathing was the only function his body could independently do.

Will Prichard Colon Ever recover?

In July 2018, Prichard Colon’s mother poste a video on her Facebook account of the fighter taking physical therapy and responding to commands.

This was the first ray of light in the dark tunnel that Colon’s fans had been living in.

His mother, Nieves Colon, mentioned in an interview that he was recovering and was learning to communicate through a computer.

However, the lawsuit yet prevails and she believes that it will never be settled.

The Digget’s physical health progress is updated by his mother on her YouTube channel for the world to see. This has given his fans a breath of fresh air.

Colon’s parents are trying their best to give their son his normal life back again. His father, Richard Colon, takes his son on a wheelchair for rides.

They sometimes read to him, hoping that he would respond to something and remember or start talking.

They have been hanging on by a thread and that thread is Hope.

Written by Jerusha Patel