Recently, two world boxers have been shot one after another, causing one death and one injury. On February 5, Beijing time, former world boxing champion Zolani Marali was shot dead in his Johannesburg apartment at the age of 44.
Then, on February 7, Beijing time, 31-year-old former IBF lightweight boxing champion Robert Easter Jr jr. was robbed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is currently recovering from three shots.
Malari is a household name in Africa and an excellent boxer in his spare time. He won a bronze medal in boxing at the 7th All-Africa Games in 1999 and a ticket to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but was disqualified from the drug test when he found that he had cannabis in his body. At the age of 23 in 2001, he was reluctant to wait four years later to become a professional boxer at the next Olympics.
During his career, Marari won the IBO Super Lightweight, WBF SecondWeight and Underweight World Champion Gold Belt. In October 2015, Manari officially retired with a professional record of 24 wins, 6 losses and 13 KO.
On Friday night local time, Malari was shot dead in his apartment in Thelblow in the old town of Johannesburg, according to people familiar with the matter, he was killed by the enemy family, his death shocked the boxing community, and south African police are further investigating the cause of his death.
Another shot was former IBF lightweight is Istel, who won the IBF title by narrowly defeating Richard Comey in 2016 and has since defended his title three times before losing his golden belt in a united battle with Mickey Garcia in July 2018.
At around 6:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, Eastel was robbed in Cincinnati, Ohio, when a group of unidentified robbers on the street attacked him from behind, when the robbers threatened to "give us all your money", Istel first thought of escaping, but when he ran away, he was shot by the robbers, who were shot three times, and the robbers snatched his two gold chains, three diamond rings and a mobile phone.
Istel was taken to the local hospital for rescue, and doctors removed the bullet from him, which is now out of danger of life and is expected to make a full recovery. The next day he posted a message on his personal social media "I'm in so much pain!" ”
Istel has not played in boxing since last February, when he beat Ryan Martin to win the 23rd win of his career. Istel was actively resuming training before being shot and planned to return to the game in early 2022, but unfortunately was shot by robbers, so he now has to suspend plans for a comeback until he recovers.