Top trainers want corporate boxing changes

Two prominent New Zealand boxing trainers fear corporate contestants could be vulnerable to serious injuries, or worse, unless events come under more scrutiny.

In the wake of Kain Parsons being critically injured in a charity boxing bout in Christchurch on Saturday night, Bryan Barry, Joseph Parker’s cut man, and Phil Shatford, a former national amateur coach and trainer of twoweight national champion Bowyn Morgan, say corporate boxing rules should be more uniformed with tighter regulations.

Barry and Shatford want all corporate contestants to be trained by licensed trainers, headgear to be mandatory instead of optional, gloves sizes increased from 16oz to 18oz and more emphasis put on match-making.

‘‘Until they put things like that in place, it’s probably going to happen again,’’ Barry said. ‘‘They’ve got to make it clear in black and white that every trainer has to be licensed.’’

Shatford wants to go a step further with only licensed trainers able to run corporate boxing events.

‘‘The biggest problem that I can see is you’re getting guys running tournaments that don’t know anything about boxing,’’ Shatford said.

If the events were run by licensed trainers the risk of injury is greatly minimised, he said.

Corporate fights have to be sanctioned through a professional boxing association but some rules vary by each event and anyone can apply to run one.

‘‘That is totally wrong,’’ Shatford said.

Barry’s Round 12 gym and Shatford’s Riverside Boxing Promotions have put on hundreds of corporate fights without contestants suffering serious injuries.

The pair agree matching corporate opponents by rough comparison in age, height and weight stop well short of the sort of regulation needed to keep fighters safe.

‘‘We need to be learning lessons from these terribly unfortunate events. If we don’t, someone else is going to get hurt too,’’ Shatford said.

He is frustrated injuries in corporate boxing not organised by licensed trainers reflect back on ‘‘well-run and evenly matched tournaments’’.

In the wake of the injury to Parsons, New Zealand Professional Boxing Association president Pat Newman told Stuff the accident would be reviewed by the association after ‘‘the local medical authorities do their thing’’.

Callam Mitchell, who was the event promoter where Parsons was injured on Saturday night, failed to answer Stuff’s questions about its headgear policy, and whether it will review match-ups or consider allowing only licensed trainers to work with the boxers in future.

‘‘The biggest problem that I can see is you’re getting guys running tournaments that don’t know anything about boxing.’’ Phil Shatford