Maxim Dadashev dies from injuries sustained

My heart sank in my stomach upon hearing this awful news. I knew he was in critical condition and there was a good chance this might happen but the news still took me by surprise. I really feel for his wife and family and he has a two-year old son as well. I also feel bad for his opponent Subriel Matias as well.

Matias just seemed physically the stronger, bigger and harder hitting man in there and he was absolutely relentless and almost impossible to discourage from coming forward and every shot he threw was heavy and sounded hurtful and fighting someone like that has got to be incredibly mentally draining and obviously that's going to take its toll on you physically as well and it was plain to see Dadashev was really struggling to hang in there and cope with the incessant pressure Matias was applying. But like I said at the time he really bit down on his gum shield in those last few rounds and desperately tried to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat even though it was already too late by point and he just didn't have the strength in his body and the air in his lungs to turn it around or keep Matias off of him. But the heart and courage he displayed in making that stand impressed me immensely because I could see how difficult it had been for him from the get-go and how deep he had to dig to summon the energy and the will to do so and I'm sure thoughts of his family and their future is what motivated him to dig that deep into his reserves because I don't think it's possible to dig any deeper.

RIP champ and sincerest condolences to his family and loved ones.

 

Excerpt from an article about him the other day

'Dadashev is another renowned former amateur from eastern Europe who went to California to join the stable of Egis Klimas. Klimas himself arrived from Lithuania in 1989 with $42. Now he's a globe-trotting manager with a gym full of champions in the coastal town of Oxnard. Among them: light heavyweights Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Sergey Kovalev, and perhaps the best fighter in the world, lightweight Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Dadashev wanted what they have -- not just titles, but a green card. Then again, in a country that celebrates victory as virtue, winning a title seemed a fail-safe way to gain one's citizenship.

"He studies his English so hard," Klimas said Friday afternoon.

With his wife, Elizabeth, and his 2-year-old son, Daniel, in St. Petersburg, Dadashev lived mostly in Oxnard in a house that Egis maintains for his up-and-coming fighters. Unlike the others, though, he didn't party or go on sightseeing ventures. He rarely leaves his room. He watches fights on YouTube. He watches American movies: "Scarface," "The Godfather," and his favorite, "Jumanji." They were a great help in learning English, he said last October.

With a full beard, he looked like his moniker, "Mad Max." A couple of months ago, he had his belly tattooed with the images of Zeus and the Gladiator. "Zeus can do anything," he said. "And the gladiator can fight."

But on Thursday, as he came to the fighter meetings almost clean-shaven, Dadashev seemed different, with soft features and a slender neck. He said he was reading children's books to help him with his English. He was also playing chess "for mental improvement."

"After this fight, I will send my documents for the green card," he said.

His wife would be joining him after the fight.

He still had the dream. Sunbathing.

In Miami. Or Hawai'