Oscar "El Torito" Diaz: Welterweight Champion Passes

Remembering...Oscar "El Torito" Diaz
September 29, 1982 - February 26, 2015

The Boxing Glove would like to send out our condolences to the family and friends of Oscar “El Torito” Diaz. Oscar Diaz has passed away in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 32 years old. He made his boxing debut in 2001 and won the NABA and the NABF welterweight championships.

Diaz had sustained a brain injury on July 16, 2008, when he was fighting for the USBA welterweight championship against Delvin Rodriguez. As a result of the injuries from the fight, Diaz was in a coma for two months, and spent the past several years since his injury in and out of rehabilitation. His death was due to the complications of the injuries he sustained during the USBA title fight.

With the passing of Oscar Diaz, we would like to remind people that many boxers do not have medical insurance or a pension plan when they get into the boxing profession. Boxing is a sport that many of us enjoy, but, do we really think about what happens to these athletes if they sustain injury in the ring or when the lights have faded, along with their careers? We would like to appeal to the boxing community to support these boxers and those organizations, like the Retired Boxers Foudation, Inc., to make a change in the boxing profession. Write boxing boards, councils, and world bodies to change their policies and to give athletes benefits and medical protections. These boxers are making these organizations millions of dollars and bring entertainment to us, they deserve to be treated in a humane way, and that means giving them support in their time of need.

Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com