Posted at 6:23 a.m., Friday, July 27, 2007
Boxing: Ex-boxer Oyebola dies of gunshot wound
Associated Press
LONDON — Former heavyweight boxer James Oyebola died Friday, four days after he was shot in the head following a dispute about smoking at a bar, police said. He was 47.Doctors turned off life support after determining he was brain dead.
The 6-foot-9 Nigerian-born boxer won a bronze medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and retired from the ring in 1996.
Metropolitan Police said Oyebola apparently tried to break up a dispute between staff at a west London bar and three customers, reportedly about enforcing the recent ban on smoking in public places.
The argument happened just after midnight Sunday and involved three men and security over smoking in the covered courtyard in the back of the bar. Witnesses said four shots were fired and the suspects fled. No arrests have been made.
