The family of a student who died after a charity boxing match is suing the organisers for £200,000, claiming he would have survived if the referee had stopped the contest.
Jubal Reji Kurian, a 23-year-old postgraduate student at Nottingham University, died on March 29, 2023, four days after collapsing in the ring towards the end of the third and final round of an amateur bout at Nottingham’s Harvey Haddon Sports Centre. He fell after a blow to the head and never regained consciousness before dying in hospital, London’s High Court heard.
Claim against Ultra Events Ltd
His father, Reji Kurian, has launched a £200,000 damages claim against Ultra Events Ltd, the fight’s organisers, arguing the fight should have been stopped before it was too late. The company denies all liability, insisting the officiating referee was highly competent and experienced and fully able to supervise an amateur bout of three two-minute rounds.
Mr Kurian had moved to the UK six months before his death to study for a master’s degree in sports medicine, hoping to become an NHS physiotherapist. During an inquest in 2024, a coroner heard he appeared to be competing well before the tide turned in the final round, during which he suffered massive injuries. His parents flew from the United Arab Emirates to Nottingham, but his life support was turned off, and he died four days after the fight.
Legal arguments at pre-trial hearing
The family’s barrister, Harry Trusted, told the High Court last week that the referee should have stopped the fight before the ‘final punch.’ ‘My case boils down to saying that, if that punch had not been delivered, Mr Kurian would have survived,’ he told the judge, Master John Dagnall, during a pre-trial hearing in London. The family has accepted the case could only succeed ‘if a sufficient level of carelessness is demonstrated by the defendants’.
For Ultra Events Ltd, barrister Daniel Tobin said the company denies liability, telling the judge Mr Kurian had gone through ‘more than 33 hours of training in a local boxing gym’ before the bout, with that training provided by coaches acting for Ultra Events. ‘Boxing is a full contact sport which carries with it a high risk of serious injury,’ he added. For the claim to succeed, Mr Kurian’s legal team must establish a ‘very high degree of carelessness’ by the organisers, which Mr Tobin insisted was completely absent.
Expert evidence permitted
The case reached court at a preliminary stage of an action due to go to trial next year, with lawyers arguing over what evidence the future trial judge should hear. The family’s barrister asked for permission to call expert evidence from a seasoned amateur and pro referee with over 40 years’ experience, who can analyse video footage of the three rounds. Ultra Events’ barrister objected, saying the proposed expert has no niche knowledge of white-collar boxing rules nor medical expertise. After a short hearing, the judge agreed to permit the evidence at trial, although Ultra Events may also call their own expert witness.
An inquest into Mr Kurian’s death was held in June 2024, with the coroner ruling he died by accident due to bleeding on both sides of the brain.
