KARLO Maquinto just lost the biggest fight of his life.

The end came for the unbeaten super-flyweight at 10:15 a.m. yesterday following a heart failure at the FEU hospital in Fairview, almost a week since he collapsed inside the ring moments after his eight-round bout with Mark Joseph Costa ended up in a draw in the undercard of the Dodie Boy Peñalosa Jr-Super James Singmanasak.

He was 21, with a ring record of 6-0-1, four by knockouts.

Former two-time world champion Gerry Peñalosa, the match promoter, condoled with the family of the young boxer, a skilled and decent fighter whose future in the brutal sports of prizefighting had looked promising.

“Malungkot tayo dahil nawalan tayo ng kapatid sa hanapbuhay,” said Peñalosa, who began promoting fights shortly after hanging up his gloves last year.

“Pero sa boksing hindi talaga minsan maiwasan ang ganyan, although nakakapang-hinayang dahil potential `yung bata,” added the former super-flyweight and bantamweight champion of the world.

While it regrets the sorry incident happened, the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) stressed everything was an accident.

“Nakakalungkot, but consistently nangyayari sa boksing `yung ganyang mga aksidente,” said Dr. Nasser Cruz, chief of GAB’s boxing division.

He added all medical care and records of Maquinto were in order before he entered the ring during that fateful night of Jan. 28 at the Recom Dome in Caloocan City.

“Kundisyon naman `yung bata, e” said Cruz of Maquinto, fighting out of Baguio-based Shape Up boxing gym, co-owned and managed by Anson Tiu-Co, manager of the dead boxer.

Maquinto is the last boxer to die in a local fight since Freddie Gimay lost to Roger Gadian in Zamboanga nine years ago, but the latest to succumb to death since Lito Sisnorio got knocked out in the fourth round of his bout with former world champion Chatchai Sasakul in Prakan, Thailand in 2007.

Among the list of recent boxers who died in the ring during a local fight include Macky Silvano, Eman Juarez (2003), Mateo Baring (1999), Roger Espinelli (1995), and Eugene Barutag (1995).

Costa and Maquinto slugged it out for eight action-packed rounds, with Maquinto going down twice in the opening round. But the fighter from Iloilo came back and nearly floored Costa, a native of Benguet, who was penalized a point later on for intentionally spitting out his mouthpiece.

The fight was declared majority draw after two of the judges scored it 75-75, and the other 75-74 in favor of Costa.

Shortly after the outcome of the fight was announced, Maquinto’s knees buckled, before he finally collapsed while walking towards his corner.

Cruz said GAB had already given the family of Maquinto P50,000 out of the agency’s boxing welfare fund, but also expects other financial help to be provided by Penalosa, and hopefully, boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.

Peñalosa vowed to extend financial help to Maquinto’s family, and will try to tap the help of friends - including Pacquiao - and private sponsors to generate additional funds for the kin of the boxer, whose remains will be brought to Iloilo by Sunday.

“Hindi natin yan pababayaan,” said Peñalosa. “Actually, pati naman `yung manager niya (Tiu-Co) all-out din ang suporta financially. Nung nasa hospital pa siya, lahat ng available options sasagutin nung manager niya. Kung kinakailangang operahan, ready `yung manager niyang i-shoulder `yung gastos.” 

The GAB, according to Cruz, has long been planning to tap the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PSCO) as the lead agency that will take care of the hospitalization of boxers who incurred injuries during a fight.

“Let’s be assured that the GAB is moving forward and looking for other ventures to make available all precautionary measures in a boxing match,” added Cruz.