Felt good upon learning that Ginjiro Sigatoka, the Japanese puncher who lost to Pedro Taduran and collapsed shortly after the decision was announced almost two weeks ago in Osaka, is showing signs of improvement.

Though not yet out of the woods, Ginjiro is somehow getting better.

His brother Yudai, who is attending to him at a private hospital in Osaka, said Ginjiro is no longer taking painkillers and seems to be responding to little things.

“It seemed like he could hear me,” Yudai said in Japanese as translated into English.

“I think he’s starting to become conscious now.”

Last 24 May at the Intex Arena, I saw how it all happened.

Ginjiro was fighting much better than the last time in a bid to regain the International Boxing Federation minimumweight crown from Taduran.

In their initial meeting almost a year ago, Taduran battered Shigeoka to a bloody pulp in the ninth round.

So damaged was Shigeoka that he had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher.

He was conscious but he was so bruised and exhausted and everything that his handlers deemed wise to get medical attention.

But in the rematch, Ginjiro turned out to be in a worse situation as he passed out just seconds into the formal announcement, sending his handlers in panic mode.

For two days, there was no word from the Shigeoka camp and it was only on the third day after the fight that details were provided courtesy of the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) which said the boxer had undergone a craniotomy.

As of this writing, Ginjiro’s condition remains serious. The JBC has announced that Ginjiro will never fight again given his condition even if he gets back to normalcy.

“Imagine, he had to be brought to the hospital two straight times following a fight,” said a keen observer of the fight game. “That is a serious matter.”

Boxing is the toughest sport and it is serious stuff.

You don’t play boxing.

Even if you don’t play it, you can die doing it.

Here’s wishing and praying for Ginjiro’s recovery.