Australian Brayd Smith is reportedly fighting for his life after falling to Filipino John Vincent Moralde in a boxing bout in the featherweight division on Saturday. Both Smith and Moralde entered the fight undefeated and it was the Australian who was favoured to win the match-up over the Filipino for the vacant World Boxing Council, or WBC, Asian Boxing Council Continental featherweight title. 


According to multiple reports including rappler.com and philboxing.com, Smith underwent emergency surgery at the Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital after the fight held at the Rumours International in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Smith lost the bout against Moralde via a 10-round unanimous decision with the judges’ scorecards of 99-91, 98-92, 97-93.

Reports also stated that Smith was in a life support system on Sunday, as per Australian promoter Peter Maniatis, who also stated that Smith was found to have a blood clot in his brain. According to separate accounts, Smith collapsed while in the dressing room after the fight and was immediately rushed to the hospital via a helicopter ambulance.

"I’m very saddened to hear of Braydon’s condition but I am praying for his full recovery. My prayers are with his family,” Smith’s opponent, Moralde said in the Rappler report.

On Sunday night, Ronnie Nathanielz, a boxing reporter based in the Philippines also had updates regarding Smith’s condition on Twitter.

The 23-year-old Smith, who was fighting in front of his hometown fans, was undefeated entering the Saturday bout and suffered the first loss of his career dropping to a 12-1-0 (10 knockouts) record. His opponent, 20-year-old Moralde from Davao City in the Philippines remained undefeated with the win and improved to a 12-0-0 (6 knockouts) record.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au

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