Eyes on corporate boxing rules

Boxers fighting in corporate events in Auckland will face stricter rules including the compulsory use of headgear after industry heads agreed to draft guidelines to try to lessen the number of serious injuries.

A last-minute meeting at ABA Stadium on Sunday brought together about 30 boxing heads from across Auckland to nut out safety standards.

Auckland Boxing Association president Paul McSharry, who called the meeting, said he was concerned at the number of fighters getting seriously injured and wanted to do something about it.

He said he now had enough information to draft a report for figureheads to mull over to try to prevent fighter injuries. “I think we got through quite lot of things. We went

athrough the history of boxing . . . to ensure we’re protecting the boxers and therefore protecting the sport.”

McSharry called the meeting after three serious cases so far this year — the death of Wellsford woman Lucy Brown, who died after a sparring session; Joel Rea, who was knocked out eight seconds into his heavyweight bout; and a corporate fighter at Boxing Alley who was hospitalised for four days in April.

Some new rules included making headgear compulsory and ensuring all corporate fighters were registered to ensure they were fighting opponents of the same skill level.

Another option was making fighters over 100kg use bigger gloves to soften the impact on their opponents.

“There’s some simple things to start with. That’s ensuring headgear is compulsory for corporate boxers because we’ve got to save some people from themselves.

“Professionals don’t wear headgear. Corporate boxing is run under the same organisation as professional boxing so it’s always been optional if you want to wear headgear . . . and it’s just a mess, really.”

He said headgear was no longer worn by Olympic fighters because evidence proved it didn’t stop concussion.

“That’s true but its purpose is, it stops the heads clashing,” he said. “The cuts have gone up something like 30 or 40 per cent since they’ve put the headgear away [from head clashes].”

McSharry said the ABA would probably supply the equipment to boxers.

He would now draft a report for those who attended the meeting to mull over.