RUSSIAN boxer Denis Boytsov has died at the age of 40.
Boytsov’s death has come 11 years after a Berlin subway attack left him unable to speak.
His father Nikolai has told Russian news agency TASS that doctors were unable to prevent Boytsov’s death on Saturday.
He said: “A blood clot broke off. There was nothing they could do; it was instant death. Three minutes and that was it.
“This happened at home. His wife fed him and started turning him to the side. He suddenly broke down, started shaking, turned blue. And his whole life was over.”
Boytsov was left with serious head injuries and placed into a medically induced coma after being attacked in 2015.
He was then placed in his family’s care, with his brother Maxim explaining that the incident had a lasting impact on his health.
Maxim said: “‘No, we didn’t communicate. He just nodded yes and no. But he understood everything.
“I courted him for ten years. But it didn’t work out.”
Boytsov was once ranked as the world’s second-best heavyweight and was set to fight Tyson Fury in December 2012, before pulling out.
The attack brought a premature end to his professional boxing career, being forced to retire with a record of 36-1.
Boytsov’s funeral is scheduled for today in Russia‘s Oryol region.