Former cruiserweight boxing champion O’Neil Bell was shot to death on 25 November by robbers in Atlanta, Georgia, according to US media.
The “undisputed” Jamaican-native champion was 40 years of age.
Bell was killed getting off a public bus in what police believe is a random act of robbery, as all his cash was stolen. Police said four male individuals are suspects in the case and investigations are ongoing.
Bell fought 32 matches over his 13-year career as a professional boxer, winning 27 matches with 25 knockouts. He lost four times and finished once with a draw. For this record, Bell had held the cruiserweight champion titles of the World Boxing Association (WBA), the International Boxing Federation (IBF), and the World Boxing Council (WBC), after beating French national Jean-Marc Mormeck in 2006.
Bell fought against Mormeck once again 14 months after that win and the latter was named the winner unanimously.
Bell’s first defeat was in 1998, when he was taken out by the Algerian boxer Mahamed Benguesmia. He was again beaten in a re-match against Mormeck in 2007, after which he suffered two more defeats. In 2008, the Jamaican boxer was knocked-out for the first time in his career by the Polish Tomasz Adamek. His fourth defeat was in 2011 opposite South African boxer Richard Hall, the “Destroyer”.
O’Neil Bell ended his career in December 2011, after receiving a first rounder total knock-out from the Costa Rican Rico Cason.
Outside the arena, Bell had a turbulent life. He was arrested in 2007 for assault using a deadly weapon after he threw an axe at his sparring partner Larry Slayton, while they were training in the woods of Big Bear, California. He was later released.Bell’s murder brings to mind the death of the South African goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa in October of 2014, near Johannesburg, after an attempt to rob his girlfriend’s house, actress and singer Kelly Khumalo. Three criminals broke into the house to steal Khumalo’s money and precious collectibles.
The situation escalated quickly when one of the robbers threatened Khumalo with a gun. While defending her, the 27-year-old footballer received a fatal shot and died as he arrived at the hospital.
Meanwhile, in January 2015, in Anzhi, Russian football club player, Gasan Magomedov, who was 20-years-old, was also fatally shot. The shooting incident took place while he was driving home from the club on 4 January . He was shot several times and died before he arrived at the hospital. In the same month, the Palestinian team Kafr Qasim’s 27-year-old football player, Suhaib Freij, was shot dead by unknown assailants as he was returning to home.
In 2013, Panama’s player, Miguel Lasso, was shot as he was walking out of a nightclub on the outskirts of the capital of Panama, and was killed on the spot.
The most prominent tragic incidents in football or other sports remains the assassination of the Colombian defender Andrés Escobar, who scored a goal against his team by mistake while playing against the US team in the 1994 World Cup finals. This goal resulted in the removal of the Colombian from the World Cup.
A local Colombian teacher stormed a bar in the city of Medellín and shot Escobar 12 times. With each bullet he cheered: Goal!
