North Dakota boxer injured in bout on life support

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Jerimiah Moen, the amateur boxer who collapsed Saturday afternoon between rounds of a bout in East Grand Forks, Minn., is on life support and being prepared for organ donation, according to his uncle, Mike Sweeney.

“We were always hoping and praying,” Sweeney, who has been Moen’s guardian since he was 12, said this afternoon at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks where Moen had remained unconscious and in critical condition since the fight. “He was a great fighter but a better person.”

The family is gathered with friends at the hospital as Moen, 29, remains on life support during organ donation.

He boxed four years during high school and returned to the ring last year, said Sweeney. Moen was named the Golden Gloves Tri-state champion in 2012 after winning two bouts in Walker, Minn., Sweeney said.

The Golden Gloves-sanctioned fight Saturday was held in the American Legion Club in East Grand Forks.

Eddie Obregon, coach of the Forx Fighters boxing club, said Moen collapsed after the first round of a scheduled three-round super-heavyweight bout.

There had not been a “devastating” hit in the first round, Obregon told the Herald.

But Sweeney said the family learned that Moen had “serious trauma” to his brain from previous injuries, including concussions.

“We don’t know if it was from boxing or other things,” he said. “In no way is anyone blaming anybody. Nobody foresaw this. Obviously this will open the eyes of everyone in boxing that maybe they’ve got to have maybe a little more testing and things like that.”

Sweeney's twin sister was Moen's mother.

“After she passed away," Sweeney said, "I raised him and his sister since he was 12.”

Moen worked in snow removal this winter.

“He was truly a loving person and will be truly missed," Sweeney said. “There’s literally hundreds of people up here” at the hospital.

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