Tragedy in boxing: Diego Arrúa, trainer and partner of Sabrina “Muñequita” Pérez, died in the middle of her last fight

The boxing world woke up shocked by the death of Diego Arruacoach and partner of the Argentine boxer Sabrina Dolly Perez. He 58-year-old trainer fainted between the ninth and tenth rounds of the fight that the athlete starred in the last hours against the Australian Skye Nicolson at the Fausto Gutiérrez Municipal Auditorium in Tijuana, Mexico. He was giving instructions from the corner when he decompensated, so he had to be assisted and immediately transferred to the nearby General Hospital where he could not be revived.

Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council, confirmed the news through social networks: “It is with deep sadness that we have been informed of the sudden death of the Argentine coach Diego Arrúa, who suffered a devastating heart attack during the Sabrina Pérez fight in Tijuana. The medical services did everything possible and he died at the QDEP general hospital.”

In an interview with the Public TV At the beginning of the years, Pérez had defined Arrúa as his “life partner”. There he also told how his dream developed within the world of boxing in the humble San José neighborhood and shared his social work at the Villa Luzuriaga gym where he trains boys and collaborates with several soup kitchens where many minors and families are helped.

In the beginning, Diego was the one who suggested doing an exhibition: “Sabrina came to my gym, I was a trainer. We saw her with the team and she seemed like she could, we proposed it to her, she started, she had 48 amateur fights, won 38, drew 6 and lost 4. She didn’t want to be a professional. Sabrina had recalled about her beginnings: “I told him yes, let’s try it. They punished me in the first and second, but I liked it.”

In another interview, the 36-year-old boxer reviewed that her first fight as a professional was in Isidro Casanova in 2008. Her husband was always the one who got her the fights “with a lot of sacrifice.” Her first world title was recorded in 2011: “To get to that fight, we sold everything, car, tables, chairs, even the TV.”

This weekend the tragic event unfolded while the Argentine was fighting against the Australian Nicolson, who won the interim world featherweight title of the World Boxing Council from the Dolly: After ten rounds, he won the fight by unanimous decision of the judges (the cards marked 98-92, 99-91 and 97-93). With this defeat, the Dolly Perez stagnated at 18-2-1 with two knockouts, while Nicolson improved to 8-0, remaining undefeated as a professional. Although these statistical and sporting data are completely left aside in the face of the painful news that hits the world of boxing squarely.

The Dolly Pérez had become champion after defeating Yolis Marugo Franco by unanimous decision last March at the Portuguese Club of Greater Buenos Aires, with cards 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92 and was on a streak of two consecutive victories , recovering from her technical knockout loss to Silvia Fernanda Zacarías in February 2022.