Kickboxer Criticaly Injured in Fight

[CD Lee]

The risks are high, and the outcome never sure. Hate to see another one...never the less, we should all be aware.

February 26, 2002


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- A Canadian kickboxer who substituted in a world championship match was comatose after undergoing brain surgery.

Derek Clements of London, Ontario, remained in a coma and was listed in critical condition Tuesday morning at Spectrum Health Blodgett, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

By late afternoon, his family asked the hospital not to release his condition. Earlier, Devin Clements said doctors suggested that his 30-year-old brother had only a 15 percent chance of survival.

His opponent, Doug LaFontsee won their match Sunday on an eighth-round technical knockout after knocking down Clements three times with right crosses. LaFontsee won the previously vacant Karate International Council of Kickboxing super middleweight title.

Clements was lucid during and after the match, and gave a post-fight interview to a local public-access television station.

Witnesses said he showed no significant signs of distress until about 90 minutes after the fight, in his hotel room. But after taking a shower, he complained that he couldn't get warm, then his legs became wobbly and his eyes rolled back in his head, said Brad Fowler, Clements' trainer.

Clements was barely conscious upon his arrival at the hospital, Fowler said.

Surgery was performed Sunday night.

[norther practitioner]

aumitofu

[Ray Pina]

Wow. Bad news. Poor guy.

I said it once and I'll say it again: it happens. One has to be aware of the risks if they are to defend against them properly. Even then, we are only human.

Hopefully the guy makes it out OK.

[Silumkid]

A good reminder of how fragile we really are.

I hope he recovers.

[Kristoffer]

Isn't the game over if your knocked down 2 times in kickboxing?

acidents are a *****

[ewallace]

the scary thing to me is the fact that he didn't know anything was wrong for 90 minutes.

[Ray Pina]

Yea, that is scarey. Just feeling dizzy and then the next thing you know ...

I always look at it as, At least he was doing what he enjoyed.

A fist, a foot, a bus, a big wave -- who knows.

Just got to enjoy it while its all here.

[Silumkid]

Kristoffer,

I think it is dependent on the federation or council you are fighting for. Just as boxing has different rules per state, fed, coucil, so on and so on...one may have a three knockdown rule, another may have no limit....one may have a standing 8 rule, another doesn't.

It would be so much easier if there was one set of rules across the board, but yeah, I know...free market and all that.

[Kristoffer]

ic.. ic

[JWTAYLOR]

Same kind of thing happend to the guy I bought my motorcyle from. I got it real cheap from his widow.

Fell over in his own driveway, hit his head on the curb, thought he was ok, had a headache, took some advil, went to bed, died in his sleep with a fractured skull.

JWT

[Yajirobe]

real shame.

[CD Lee]

there scary thing to me is the fact that he didn't know anything was wrong for 90 minutes.

Yeah, that is what scares me too. People just have to know what the helll they are doing, and absolutely understand the real risks involved.

You gotta admit, we all think we can take a good @ss whooopin, and we will be ok. But the reality is, we honest to God do not know if that is the case. We should be prepared to end any fight as fast as we can, and be DONE. Get the hell out of there, and get home alive.

[Serpent]

Yeah, but technically he got home safe. So did the guy that hit his head on the curbstone.

Question is, what kind of warning signs are there to look out for? What can be done to prevent this sort of thing happening? Other than not fighting or falling over, obviously.

[CD Lee]

Serpent, I don't know what to look for in a case like this one. We do know that the guy was a Kung Fu teacher, and that he took the fight on short notice. Maybe his body was not really ready to take head shots. He did go down I think three times. You know, it just aint healthy getting hit in the head cleanly.

Unfortunately the man died.

February 27, 2002


LONDON, Ontario (AP) -- A kickboxer who went into a coma after losing a world-championship match in Grand Rapids, Mich., died Wednesday in a hospital in his hometown.

Derek Clements, 30, died at London Health Sciences Centre, where he was transferred after undergoing brain surgery Sunday at a Grand Rapids hospital.

Clements' opponent, Doug LaFontsee, won the Karate International Council of Kickboxing super middleweight title fight on an eighth-round technical knockout. Clements was knocked down three times in the fight, including twice in the eighth round.

Clements was lucid during and after the Sunday match and gave a post-fight interview to a local public-access television station.

Brad Fowler, Clements' trainer, said that when Clements got out of the shower about 90 minutes after the fight, the fighter complained that he couldn't get warm, then his legs became wobbly and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Clements was barely conscious upon his arrival at the Grand Rapids hospital, Fowler said.

Clements, who owned a London martial arts club, agreed four days before the match to fill in for another fighter, who pulled out Feb. 19 with an injury.

His brother said Clements was kept on life support so he could be moved to London where he could donate his organs.

``We have a family member who needs kidneys,'' Devin Clements said.

Derek Clements, who taught kung fu for about 10 years, has a 3-year-old son, Derek Jr., and a 6-year-old daughter, Aysia.

LaFontsee learned of Clements' condition Monday morning and joined family and friends of both fighters in bedside prayers.

[ewallace]

That is just a **** shame.

Fell over in his own driveway, hit his head on the curb, thought he was ok, had a headache, took some advil, went to bed

Not supposed to go to sleep if there is a remote chance you have a concussion. That's what I was told after a car accident when I cracked my dome pretty good.