Alex Silvestre doesn’t want to blame anybody for his brother’s passing, he just wants answers.
Joao Carvalho’s brother Alex Silvestre sat down with the Obviously Fight Talk podcast on Tuesday, April 19th, 2016, to speak about his brother’s tragic passing following his fight with Charlie Ward at TEF 1 in Dublin’s National Stadium.
“This is what my brother loved,” he said. “My brother loved this sport. This is what he wanted to do for life.”
Silvestre, who was accompanied to the studio by his late-brother’s wife and a of couple friends, revealed that he has had some people from inside the sport reach out to try help the family, but nobody else. He confirmed that they still don’t have his brother’s body, nine-days since the event.
“I still don’t have any answers for nothing for what has happened this Saturday. I still don’t have my brother’s body to take home with me,” he said. “Nine days passed from this event. I still don’t know nothing about what’s happened. No one has come to speak with us. I am here with my brother’s wife, and a couple friends, and nobody cares about us.”
Silvestre addressed how the media have covered the sport on the back of his brother’s death, and said that doesn’t wish for the press to talk about the MMA or his brother in a bad light. He called his brother a “lovely boy”, condemning much of the mainstream media for characterizing MMA fighters as “animals” because they fight inside a cage.
“In this sport, everyone respects everyone; no one goes inside [he cage] to kill anyone.”
When questioned whether he had anything to say to Charlie Ward, his brothers opponent on the evening that he fell ill, Silvestre said that he doesn’t want to find anybody guilty.
“I don’t want to find any guilties [sic]. I’m sure Charlie feels sorry for this,” he stated. I think it’s not what he wants, of course. When he goes there, he’s not going to kill anyone, especially my brother.”
Robert Pallin is the host of Obviously Fight Talk podcast on radiomade.ie. Found also on iTunes & Stitcher. You can also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.