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Is Terrel Williams Still Getting Threats After Paralyzing Prichard Colon?

The American boxer, Terrel Williams has often publicly expressed his dismay at the state of health of his last rival, Orocoveño Prichard Colón. In 2015, two budding welterweights battled it out in the Eagle Bank arena. After the fight, only one of them walked out. Terrel Williams took on undefeated super welterweight Prichard Colon. Colon entered the fight 16-0 and dreamed of having the WBC belt around his waist. This fight ended up being the last time Colon had the ability to walk. From the start of the fight, Colon complained to the referee that Williams kept hitting him with “bunny punches”. This is crucial to this story because Bunny or Rabbit punches are illegal in boxing, as they strike the back of the opponent’s head. 

Despite the complaint, Williams continued to throw bunny punches and below-the-belt shots. Finally, in the 9th round, Williams did what no other welterweight has been able to do against Colon. He knocked Colon down for the third time with whiplash. The referee called a stoppage in the ninth round and Colon fell into a coma when they admitted him to the hospital. 

What Happened To Terrel Williams? A 2022 Update! 

Where is Terrel Williams now in 2022?

Initially, Williams took three years off to deal with putting his competition in a coma. Since then he has fought 4 times before stopping again in September 2019. Williams has remained off the internet due to which there are no updates on the fight. After his last fight, the welterweight took six years off. 

Death threats:

After the life-changing incident, Williams is still receiving hate for his actions. The only trace of Williams on the internet is his Facebook account, which has remained active since 2013. Every day, Facebook users often go to the comments section of Williams’ single post and post hate messages.

In 2018, Williams spoke to The Ring Magazine about how that fight, although nothing in the manner Colon had to endure, affected him every day.

As WBN explained, Williams hasn’t used the page since 2013. But an inactive social media account hasn’t stopped Prichard Colon supporters, whether well-intentioned or not, from letting their raw feelings known to Williams, even today. Some of the comments we wouldn’t even post. But below are some clear indications of what the page now represents.

One woman said: “You would look great with our flag tied around your neck.”

Another stated: “You should be paying for all medical bills and get his family help to take care of him for what you did. And you should never be able to get in the ring again.”

Lastly, one individual added: “Someday, someone is going to catch you all alone, and they won’t be unarmed or have forgiveness in their heart.”

The Prichard family still hates him:

“I pray for Prichard every day. That’s never going to change. I wish him nothing but peace and health. No one wants what happened to Prichard to happen to anybody. All boxers are brothers. I would never intentionally harm someone like that,” Williams told The Ring back in 2018. 

“But there has been a lot of malicious stuff that’s said about me, especially from the Colon family. If that is how they’re going to cope with it and it helps them heal, then that’s what it is.

“I’m still healing too. I’ll be healing for the rest of my life. I honestly never wanted to fight again after that fight.

“I understand, and I know I didn’t do anything wrong that night. Prichard was a young man with a bright future who would contribute good things to the world. “That’s been hard on me,” he added.

Looking at the negative and angry comments, posts, and messages typed on Williams’s static Facebook page, forgiveness to Williams for any Prichard Colon fan will forever be a tough pill to swallow.

Prichard Colon’s honorable fight made Colon’s outraged family deal with a vegetable rather than a human. Considering how mental health is of the utmost importance, it is understandable how both families are silent and stay in the shadows. 

Still, we know Terrel has shown remorse:

“I just wanted to go home and be with my family enjoying my victory, in the same way I’m sure he wanted to go back to his house and be with his family,” Williams once stated to the LA Times in a telephone interview.

“Right now my priority is to pray until he (Prichard) recovers. Nothing else matters to me, I’m just praying for him and his family, “he said.

“The minute the fight was over, I went up to him and told him what a great fighter he was, to keep his head up despite his loss,” added Williams. He concluded by saying that “I wish you a speedy recovery Prichard, you are a great champion and fighter. Thank you for teaching me so much about myself, I will be praying for you and your family and supporting you in any way I can.”

Where is Prichard Colon now?

2017:

For Colon, the fight was both mental and physical, after all, Colón went into a coma for 221 days. Colón was vomiting and was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with brain bleeding which is the worst-case scenario for the undefeated welterweight, adding to an undoubtedly trying time for his family. The fighter was treated long-term at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia until he was shifted to his mother’s home in Orlando, Florida.

In 2017, the parents of Prichard Colón filed a lawsuit seeking damages in excess of $50 million which has still not been settled. 

2018:

After being severely damaged in 2017 Colón’s mother posted a video of the former fighter in which he can be seen taking physical therapy and responding to verbal questions on her Facebook account. 

Although Colón had remained in a persistent vegetative state, the WBC honored Colon by making him World Boxing Council champion for life. They presented it to him as a small token of his return.

Colón’s progress can be tracked on YouTube and thanks to the kind gesture of WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, Colon will forever be known as a WBC champion. They finally made his dream come true. As for Williams, the dark cloud of the incident hangs over his head and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

2021:

The Puerto Rican, who suffered irreversible brain damage in 2015 during a fight with the American Terrel Williams, underwent surgery on his skull. “The doctor has passed to give the results of my son’s operation, the CHAMPION Prichard Colón Meléndez. Everything went well, the Doctor informed us, ”said the ex-boxer’s mother in her message.

A week prior to his surgery, Colón, who before the accident had a promising undefeated career with 16 wins, was declared honorary champion by the World Boxing Council (WBC).

2020 – 2022:

Since 2018, Prichard has been living rather slowly in the care of his family. He needs them for daily support. Thanks to the therapy he continues to receive in Florida, the former Puerto Rican fighter is able to now communicate with his eyes, move his hands and even stand a little with assistance.

In his bedroom at his mother Nieves Colon’s house, the 26-year-old Prichard Colón is surrounded by images of the boxer he used to be. His head, raised by pillows in the tilt of a hospital bed, approaches the middle of his portrait in a life-size tapestry that hangs on a diagonal wood-paneled wall. The photo of him shows him in the fighter’s position, and above, victorious, with his arms raised.

These very reasons are why the WBC considers him a ‘champion’ of life! The story of Prichard Colón made him a life champion and that is how the World Boxing Council recognized him, since Mauricio Sulaimán sent him an official belt with his image to encourage him to continue, acknowledging that he has come out ahead of the toughest fight that could face – the battle with death and the coma, has ended. 

Other FAQs:

What happened to Prichard Columbus?

It was on October 17, 2015 when the boxer of Puerto Rican descent Prichard Colón would go out to the ring with the intention of defeating the American fighter Terrel Williams. This fight took place at the Fairfax venue in Virginia. At the beginning of the fight, the Puerto Rican came out to give everything, he quickly managed to dominate Williams and little by little everything seemed to have an outcome in favor of Colón. 

But things were not like that, Terrell was proving to have enormous strength and he began to connect too strong blows, this was reflected in the seventh round, when Prichard Colón touched the canvas after receiving a forceful blow. Although the Puerto Rican did not feel well at the time, as he began to feel severe pain behind his head, he decided to continue, something that ended up drastically changing his life.

Again in the ninth round, Williams charged hard against Prichard, thus winning the fight by knockout. At the end of the fight, when the Puerto Rican was going to his dressing room with all his preparation equipment, the former boxer began to have more intense discomfort in his head and fell to the ground unconscious. 

Upon his collapse, Colon was rushed to a hospital where they concluded that he suffered from a subdural hematoma, ( a type of stroke that is caused by a strong impact to the head). 

Why did Terrell Williams beat Prichard on his neck?

The boxer dealt several illegal blows to the 23-year-old Puerto Rican boxer’s neck area, these blows caused Colón to have a cerebral bleed and remain in a coma.

Williams explained that since learning of Prichard’s condition, she has cried many times. “My heart collapsed, my stomach collapsed,” she added.

During the fight, the American boxer dealt several illegal blows to Prichard for which he had to be sanctioned with one less point. He explained that: “At the moment the referee stopped the fight, he could not remember why they were removing the point, it is very different when one is in an important fight and the adrenaline is there, one just wants to win and what you see as spectators I can’t remember it because of the adrenaline you feel”.

“It never crossed my mind that I was purposely hurting my rival, he wasn’t thinking about it either and I know he didn’t. When one is in the heat of a fight, one only thinks about fighting and therefore one is throwing punches, but those punches don’t always connect in the right place”, said the boxer.

What happened to Prichard Colon’s skull?

Colón’s mother confirmed that during this operation, Prichard had plates implanted in the left area of ​​his skull. The process was necessary because the area has been “sinking” since his last fight on the ring, because now he has faced battles for his life after the dangerous “rabbit punch” he received on the back of the neck, and which caused him a stroke. 

His mother Nieves Colón narrates: “I asked him in Spanish: ‘Papi, how are you?’ And she answered me in English: ‘Mommy, I’m dizzy, I can’t see’”.

Although Prichard seemed conscious and the medical services cleared him to continue fighting, the boxer told his mother that he felt very dizzy and could not see, his legs were shaking and he seemed increasingly weak as he headed to the locker room, where he passed out after vomiting.

“I thought I was going to die. I thought he was going to die at that moment, “said Colon’s mother in concern. Prichard had to be hospitalized and a CT scan revealed that he had a subdural hematoma. Later, an emergency neurosurgery showed that it was too late and the damage was irreversible.

When did Prichard Columbus start boxing?

Colón showed not only the skill but the will to realize the dreams he first expressed as a child in his Central Florida home, where his parents raised him.

“He always knew what he wanted to be in life. He would say ‘Mamita, I want to be a professional boxer, I want to represent Puerto Rico and I want to be a world champion,'” said Nieves Colón, recalling when her son was in elementary school.

Today his mother looks after his every need, back in the home where he grew up as a vegetable, a depressing tale of the dangers that come with the promise of championship fights.

In the garage where he taught him, Colon’s father said to ESPN: “Imagine this is the ring, the heavy bag (and) over here, the punching bag…One never forgets so many memories, one never forgets,” 

Colon’s father Richard Colón, joined the military but had previously trained with the father of Félix Trinidad, the three-time world champion from Puerto Rico. Prichard had 16 wins until his last fight with Terrel Williams.

During his amateur career, Prichard accumulated five national championships, a gold medal at the 2009 Pan American Youth Championship and fought for a ticket to the 2012 London Olympics. His record in this facet is 170-15. As a professional he made his debut on February 23, 2013, accumulating a record of 16 wins, 13 by knockout and only one loss.

Did Prichard Colon win the lawsuit against damages?

Boxing is a popular sport, but also one that can cause irreversible damage from forbidden blows. 

Prichard Colón’s treatment has been long and expensive, so the family has demanded that someone take responsibility for what happened in the function against Terrel Williams, since Colón’s rival boxer landed a severe and dangerous blow and medical services also gave the go-ahead for the Puerto Rican to continue fighting.

The family is continuing to seek damages of more than $50 million. Until now there is a debate about the prohibited blows that the referee allowed in Prichard’s last fight in October 2015. 

Where is Prichard Colon’s girlfriend now?

His girlfriend Dania is still with him, next to his parents in the care and attention that the Puerto Rican boxer needs. Once a formidable boxer with intense strength and agility, Colon was obliterated to nothing when he vanished in his locker room after suffering an undignified fight in Virginia against Terrell Williams. Today he needs more than most people because the fighter is still undergoing physical therapy and responding to only verbal commands. The only thing Prichard can do for himself is to breathe, so this scenario is indeed very tough to bounce back from. But love and life go on.

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