A youth wrestler is going viral for all the wrong reasons after he attacked his opponent after losing a match in a disturbing act of unsportsmanlike behavior.
Police have launched an investigation after a high school wrestling match between Maine West’s Hafid Alicea and Cooper Corder of SPAR Wrestling Academy that turned ugly.
Alicea lost the lopsided match 14-2 and when the referee asked the two to shake hands after the bout, the wrestling began to look more like WWE than actual real wrestling.
In a viral clip of the incident, Alicea faked shaking Corder’s hand and instead smashed him in the face hard, much to the shock of everyone in attendance.
Wrestler breaks rival’s nose after faking handshake
Right after the punch, the referee escorted Alicea away while adults rushed to care for Corder who was hit so hard he fell to the floor.
The disastrous end to the April 8 Beat The Streets tournament resulted in Corder suffering a broken nose, but luckily, he’s already back to training according to TMZ.
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Hafid Alicea of Maine West (IL) throws a sucker punch at the line… #wtf pic.twitter.com/9m4HAxl2oF
— The Wrestling Room (Pat Mineo) (@MrPatMineo) April 14, 2023
“He is making the best of the situation and is already back to training,” SPAR Academy founder Justin Pearch told TMZ. “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.”
A spokesperson for Oak Park Police says that the parents of both wrestlers are cooperating with the investigation.
Since being posted to social media, the smack has been viewed over 500,000 times so far with many calling for charges to be filed against the teen.
This isn’t the first sport’s fight to make waves recently. Just this month, a charity hockey game between the NYPD and New York firefighters ended in multiple fights and cops being KO’d on the ice.
