Boxer John Cooney, 28, Dies a Week After Sustaining Brain Injury in Championship Fight

John “The Kid” Cooney, a U.K.-based super-featherweight boxer, has died a week after sustaining a brain injury in a championship fight. He was 28.

The late boxer’s management company, MHD Promotions, announced his death on social media on Saturday, Feb. 8 — just four days after sharing a GoFundMe fundraiser as the athlete was being treated for an intracranial hemorrhage.

“It is with complete devastation that we have to announce that after a week of battling for his life, John Cooney has sadly passed away,” the Belfast, Ireland-based company’s statement said in part. “He was a much loved son, brother and partner and it will take us all a lifetime to forget how special he was.”

The boxing company also said that the late athlete’s parents and fiancée, Emmaleen, “would like to thank” the staff at Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for working “tirelessly to save John’s life,” as well as “everyone who has sent messages of support and prayers.”

“RIP John ‘The Kid Cooney,’ ” the statement concluded. “Funeral details to follow. 💔.”

Cooney was injured during a British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) Celtic Super Featherweight title fight against boxer Nathan Howells at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on Saturday, Feb. 1. He went down once in the ninth round and was taken to the hospital following the fight, according to the boxer’s BoxRec biography. 

At the hospital, it “was discovered that John had an intracranial [hemorrhage] and underwent immediate surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain,” according to a statement from Cooney’s promoter, Mark Dunlop, which Howells shared on Instagram two days after the fight.

“John is currently in the intensive care unit,” the Feb. 3 statement read, “and in the the capable hands of the hospital ICU team.”

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Howells, who took home the championship title, also shared several statements on social media following the news of Cooney’s injury, and later, his death. “Just had the news that the worst has happened,” Howells wrote on Instagram following Cooney’s death. “Thoughts are with his family and friends sorry for your [loss].”

In a Feb. 3 post, Howells wrote in part, “I genuinely never wanted for any of this to happen just went out there to box.”

The BBBofC did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The GoFundMe created while Cooney was in the hospital has raised £47,000 (about $58,300), which will now go “directly to the family to support them following his untimely passing.” It also attracted the attention of Irish boxer Conor McGregor, who contributed £20,000 (about $24,800) to the Cooney family’s fundraiser.