A youth wrestling match in Oak Park, Illinois ended in absolute chaos after the losing competitor took things way too far after the match had concluded.
Cooper Corder of SPAR Academy won the match over Maine West High School’s Hafid Alicea. Corder largely dominated the match, winning with a 14-2 score over Alicea.
Alicea, unfortunately, took the loss to heart and made an extremely ill-advised decision.
Corder extended his arm in a show of good sportsmanship in the middle of the mat. Instead, Alicea proceeded to sucker punch him and knock him down to the floor.
DETAILS
ILLINOIS YOUTH WRESTLER
SUCKER PUNCHED AFTER MATCH
… Police Investigating pic.twitter.com/JXAHFoPclC— Dj_Larry Jones (@Dj_LarryJones) April 18, 2023
According to TMZ, Corder suffered a nose injury and is now wearing a face mask during his future matches. As for Alicea, he has reportedly been issued a citation for assault.
SPAR Academy founder Justin Pearch discussed the altercation with TMZ, where he detailed that Corder is taking the situation well despite the injuries to his nose.
“He is making the best of the situation and is already back to training,” said Pearch. “As you may know, wrestling matches can get heated but nothing leading up to the punch would give cause to such bad decision-making on the opponent’s part. It’s not tolerated in our sport and Spar Wrestling will never condone that behavior.”Hopefully this can ultimately end up being a learning lesson for Alicea so nothing like this happens again in his wrestling career if he continues to continue it.
[TMZ] Photo Credit: The Wrestling Spot on YouTube
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.