1st October, 2016
The 25-year-old, from Dundee, was rushed to hospital after a fifth-round loss to Welsh fighter Dale Evans in a St Andrew’s Sporting Club fight at Glasgow’s Radisson Blu Hotel.
Towell’s partner, Chloe Ross, said he “fought right to the end”.
He is only the third professional boxer to die in the UK from apparently fight-related injuries in the past 21 years.
His management said he passed away with his family at his bedside.
St Andrews Sporting Club confirmed Towell’s death in a tweet on Saturday morning.
“Within the last hour Mike Towell passed away – he will always be in our hearts #RIPIronMike,” it said.
In a Facebook post, his partner Ms Ross said Towell died “peacefully” shortly after 23:00 BST on Friday, 12 hours after he was taken off life support.
“I’m absolutely heartbroken to say my annoying best friend passed away tonight at 11.02am very peacefully,” she wrote.
“Michael had severe bleeding and swelling to his brain.
“He had been complaining of headaches for the last few weeks but we put it down to migraines with the stress of his fight.
“It has been the longest 24 hours of our lives. My baby has lost his daddy. But he will be so so proud of his dad in what he achieved.”
Ms Ross added: “Once he was taken off of his life support he managed 12 hours, 12 whole rounds off his life support, he fought right to the end and he’s done us all so proud… He left doing the thing he’s best at… there’s only one.”
A spokesman for St Andrew’s Sporting Club later said that Towell’s management team was not aware of any headache problems leading up to the fight.
Towell was knocked down in the first round of the fight before recovering to continue the match.
Referee Victor Loughlin stopped the fight in the fifth round shortly after Towell was knocked down by Caernarfon fighter Evans for a second time.
He received treatment in the ring and was given oxygen before being taken to an ambulance on a stretcher.
Spencer Oliver, the former European Super Bantamweight champion who was placed in a coma after being injured in a fight in 1998, said Towell would not have been allowed to fight if there had been doubts about his health.
He said: “He would have to have had all his medical tests. He was in a British title eliminator so all his brain scans would have been up to date and everything would have been in place with Mike going into that contest.”
But boxing promoter Frank Warren raised concerns about the reports that Towell had been suffering from headaches.
He said: “If that’s true, obviously he shouldn’t have been fighting. And I’m quite sure, the doctor, who examines the boxers and the medicals, if they had of known that, they would not have allowed him to box.
“So, obviously once the British Boxing Board of Control complete their investigation into the matter, they’ll be able to give further comment on that.”