07.04.04 – By Matthew Hurley – Just before noon on October 25, 2000, Bobby Tomasello, a young fighter from Saugus Massachusetts with a record of 14-0-1 died at New England Medical Center from injuries he suffered in the ring. The bout was broadcast on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights and, fortunately for viewers, Bobby didn’t collapse in the boxing ring. He walked back to his dressing room, proud, grinning and certain of his future as a prize fighter. Moments later, after complaining of a headache to his manager Norman Stone, he slipped into a coma from which he would never return. He was 24 years-old.
It’s been a while now since Bobby passed away but I come back to his story not to question my passion for such a brutal, unforgiving sport but simply to remember him. Any fighter deserves as much, and any fighter who suffered the ultimate sacrifice for the profession that he loved, that defined him as a human being, deserves a little bit more from those of us still walking around, enjoying life.
Bobby was from my neck of the woods, Massachusetts, where boxing is still discussed over pints of beer in local taverns. He was a tough kid with more heart than talent and that’s what Bostonians, and true boxing fans from all over, worship. Every fighter at some point dreams of being a champion, of having a championship belt wrapped around their waist, but it’s those fighters on the cusp, fighters who respect the sport and simply want to be good professionals who truly force their way into a boxing fan’s heart. That was Bobby.
Tomasello’s final opponent, Ghana’s Steve Dotse, was devastated by his opponent’s death. In fact he had no idea the extent of Bobby’s injuries when he flew back to his home in Atlanta after the fight. The respect fighters have for each other is often masked by pre-fight smack talk, but as the fight itself wears on a camaraderie is often silently, albeit, violently built.
“You don’t want anyone to die in the ring,” Dotse said later. “I can’t tell you how sad I am.”
The fight itself probably should have been stopped after Bobby suffered a brutal knockdown in the tenth round, or even before when he was being battered about the ring. But Tomasello was a fighter and kept swinging back. He never lost his courage. He never quit. In the final analysis no one is culpable and certainly no one is to blame. It was simply a tragedy. And, as strange as it sounds, Bobby, wherever he is now, is probably proud that the fight was judged a draw. He doesn’t have a loss on his all too brief professional record. Believe it or not, despite it all, and certainly we all wish it had all turned out differently, the fighter’s heart that may have ultimately cost Bobby his life would beat proud at the verdict of a draw were that heart still beating today.
It breaks my heart to think of Bobby, but he represented all that I love about the sport of boxing… and some of which frightens me. He was a good kid and a good professional prize fighter.
So say a little prayer for Bobby Tomasello and all the fighters brave enough to climb into the ring. They all deserve it… and the fallen warriors, our fallen warriors, deserve it a little bit more.