Charity boxing event ‘too soon’

A new corporate boxing event is being promoted in Christchurch just weeks after a charity boxer was fatally injured in the ring.

Kain Parsons, 37, died earlier this month after being knocked unconscious during a Fight for Christchurch match. His death has prompted calls for charity boxing to be banned, or more heavily regulated.

Club of Origin will be held at the Papanui Rugby League Club on January 26. Four professional match ups and 12 corporate events are planned, with most contenders receiving in-house training from the event’s organiser, Peak Sports Performance Centre. Nominated local sports clubs will receive $500 a match from sponsors.

Boxing New Zealand chairman Keith Walker opposed the event. ‘‘If it was under us, we would put a stop to it,’’ he said.

He believed it was too soon to hold another corporate boxing event and warned the organisers and overseeing body to ‘‘look very carefully at just how they conduct it’’. ‘‘The coaches involved in that need to be very aware of the safety aspects of the competition.’’

Peak Sports Performance Centre owner Tyler Sullivan declined to comment.

Corporate boxing events have come under scrutiny since Parsons’ death four days after Fight for Christchurch.

According to witnesses, Parsons was stunned twice by punches. The referee gave him two standing eight counts in the first round to check if he was OK to continue, before he was knocked out in the second round.

It was later revealed that Parsons had taken two weeks off training for the fight because of an incident during sparring.

Parsons was not wearing headgear, which was optional. The policy is in line with sanctioning body the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA), which is now reviewing that event.

NZPBA is also involved with Club of Origin, national president Pat Leonard confirmed.

The association’s Christchurch team would advise the promoter of its obligations in the weeks leading up to the event, he said. ‘‘We tell them what we require, what is necessary for a corporate boxing event . . . it’s up to the promoter then to enforce.’’

Leonard said there had been ‘‘a lot of rhetoric going on’’ after Parsons’ death on November 3.

‘‘Consequently, we’re looking at everything. We’re going to be looking at things in the new year and if there are ways to improve things, we will.’’

He declined to discuss what changes were being considered while a coroner’s inquest into Parsons’ death was under way.

‘‘If it was under us, we would put a stop to it.’’ Keith Walker, of Boxing NZ