Punch Kills Woman Boxer

A boxer who entered the ring for what she intended to be her last bout before retirement has become the first American woman to die from injuries in a sanctioned fight.

Becky Zerlentes, 34, a former regional champion, died after being knocked out by a punch to her left temple during the third round of her fight against Heather Schmitz, 32, in Colorado.

Zerlentes, who was wearing protective headgear, fell to the canvas and, although she received immediate attention from ringside doctors, she never regained consciousness. On Monday, the coroner's office in Denver listed the cause of death as a blunt force trauma to the skull.

She is believed to be the first female boxer to die in a legal fight since US boxing authorities admitted women to the sport 12 years ago. Newspaper reports said yesterday that Zerlentes had planned the fight against Schmitz as her last outing before retirement. "Nobody thought it was a very hard blow," Jeanne DePriest, the manager of Zerlentes's boxing team, told the Rocky Mountain News. "We've been talking to people about this all day, trying to find out what happened.

Zerlentes's opponent told CBS news on the night of the fight that she had been worried about the knockout. "I didn't want to hurt her," Schmitz said. "So I feel very badly about that."

Zerlentes was a dedicated sportswoman and an instructor in geography at a community college in Fort Collins, Colorado. She competed in triathlons, taught swimming, did martial arts and had an amateur boxing record of 6-4.

Denver police were reviewing footage of the match yesterday, but said the death was not considered a homicide.