Boxer badly hurt in fight for charity
A man has been critically injured in a charity boxing match in Christchurch.
Kain Parsons, a former builder-turned-project-manager for Versatile Garages, was knocked unconscious during a fight against former Canterbury and Tasman Makos halfback Steve Alfeld at the OneStaff Fight for Christchurch 2018 on Saturday.
It’s understood his condition has deteriorated since he was transported to Christchurch Hospital. A district health board spokeswoman said the family had requested privacy, and was unable to make further comment.
Event promoter Callam Mitchell said he and his team were ‘‘absolutely devastated by what’s happened’’.
‘‘Our thoughts are solely with Kain and his family at this time. Our hearts also go out to his coach, contender, and work colleagues,’’ he said in a statement. Police have confirmed emergency services were called to the event at Horncastle Arena shortly after 11pm.
A male boxer was taken to Christchurch Hospital in a critical condition, she said. Christchurch City councillor Mike Davidson participated in the event.
‘‘From what I saw he [Parsons] hit his head when he went down on the canvas,’’ Davidson said.
Parsons was unconscious for several minutes as medics responded to him.
‘‘When you look at Kain and his opponent, they’re pretty evenly matched in terms of height and weight but I think the other guy had a bit more experience.
‘‘I think they need to take a few lessons from last night to try prevent that kind of thing happening again and make sure the guys, they match them up in terms of ability and punching power, not just height and weight.’’
Davidson also wanted head gear to be compulsory for competitors. ‘‘In hindsight if I did it again, and I don’t intend to, I would wear head gear’’.
Mitchell has failed to answer Stuff’s questions about its head gear policy, and whether it will review match ups or consider allowing only licensed trainers to work with the boxers in future.
The New Zealand Professional Boxing Association sanctions the Fight for Christchurch.
National secretary Pat Leonard largely declined to comment but indicated the accident would be reviewed by the association after ‘‘the local medical authorities do their thing’’.
‘‘It’s just unfortunate. These things can happen very occasionally . . . Our thoughts are with the family.’’
Parsons was a spectator at last year’s Fight for Christchurch who decided to throw his hat in the ring this year, according to promotional materials for the event.
He was raising money for Conductive Education, a charity supporting the schooling of children with developmental delays and motor disorders.
A GiveaLittle page specific to Parsons’ fight had raised nearly $3000 by yesterday morning.
Two prominent New Zealand boxing trainers fear corporate contestants could be vulnerable to serious injuries, or worse, unless events face 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. But Shatford said some events have unsafe practices that could claim lives.
The pair agree matching corporate opponents by rough comparison in age, height and weight stop well short of the 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’’.
Event promoter Callam Mitchell, failed to answer Stuff’s questions about its policies.