When the gloves go on
Stephen McIvor could barely breathe while the punches flew at his face. But remembering his trainer’s advice, he spat his mouthguard onto the boxing ring floor.
It’s one of the rules – no punches to be thrown without a mouthguard. It’s a reprieve from the persistent haymakers.
It was McIvor’s first charity fight, but the intensity and danger did not deter him from getting in the ring again. In fact, he did it twice more.
It was days after his third bout in 2014 that he started to fear his decision to get in the charity boxing ring would have a dramatic impact on his family.
The realisation dawned as he lay on a hospital bed in the brain injury unit. McIvor was ‘‘sh ...... myself to be honest’’.
‘‘I was in tears lying on the hospital bed thinking what an idiot I had been to put my family, and myself, through this.’’
McIvor had jumped in the ring with Stuff journalist Steven Kilgallon for three rounds of charity boxing.
But two days after the bout, while working in the garden at his home in Auckland, McIvor felt his head pound every time his spade dug into the earth.
Soon, he was rushed to the brain injury unit with a suspected brain bleed. It would later turn out to be a ruptured pocket of spinal fluid in his head.
‘‘I lay there for about 48 hours and just kept thinking about my family. Just for the sake of my ego I could’ve lost my life, my family and my kids.’’
McIvor says he is in no way advocating to stop charity boxing events, he knew what he was doing, and thinks if people want to give it a go safely – they should.
‘‘But with the tragic events in Christchurch it’s chilling to think what could have happened.’’
On Wednesday, Kain Parsons died in Christchurch Hospital aged 37. A former builder-turned-project manager, he was knocked unconscious during a fight against former Canterbury and Tasman Mako halfback Steve Alfeld at Fight for Christchurch last Saturday.
CALL FOR REGULATIONS
After Parsons’ death, Boxing New Zealand severed its ties with corporate boxing events, and professionals in the industry have called for tougher restrictions.
Others in the profession have called for the organisations which sanction charity boxing events – New Zealand National Boxing Federation (NZNBF) and New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA) – to heed the warnings of experienced boxing trainers and make stringent safety practices mandatory at every event, big or small.
Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin said on Thursday she had asked her department for advice on whether charity boxing matches should be regulated. ‘‘We’ve had two deaths in three years and that’s two deaths too many,’’ she said.
In August, Lucy Brown, 31, died days after receiving a head injury during a routine sparring session.
In 2016, Hamilton man Neville Knight died in the ring at a charity boxing match, leaving behind three children.
Earlier this year, Auckland’s Peach Gym quit the corporate fight scene after Joel Rea, 36, was severely concussed at a corporate fight.
In April, a man was knocked out for 20 minutes and hospitalised for four days with a brain injury at a Boxing Alley event in Auckland. That led Boxing Alley to also cancel corporate fights indefinitely.
The NZPBA approves or promotes about 50 corporate bouts each year. Association president Pat Leonard said the boxers at the Fight for Christchurch event had a pre-bout medical check by a registered doctor and were told by the supervisor about the risks.
In Parsons’ case, he’d taken two weeks off training because of an incident during sparring.
According to witnesses, on the night of the fight Parsons had been stunned twice by punches during the bout, prompting the referee to give him two eight standing counts in the first round to check if he was fine to continue.
Then, he was knocked out in the second round.
DIFFERENT RULES FOR CHARITY BOXING
Parsons was not wearing headgear, which was optional – a policy in line with the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association (NZPBA). A review is under way into the fight and the death has been referred to the coroner.
Auckland Boxing Association president Paul McSharry told Stuff promoters for corporate boxing are adverse to the rules of amateur boxing.
‘‘There are approximately six governing bodies in New Zealand who can sanction corporate boxing.’’
However, because the rules and regulations for amateur boxing are quite strict, promoters will go to the professional bodies, he said.
‘‘Corporate boxing is sanctioned by professional boxing; professional boxers don’t wear headgear.’’
McIvor is adamant headgear should be compulsory, particularly on the charity boxing circuit.
‘‘In boxing you’re either hit or you get hit – that’s what it’s about. There is going to be some affect or some damage. It’s that simple.’’
His one-time opponent agreed with him. ‘‘I was really concussed after the fight and had bad headaches all the next day,’’ Kilgallon said.
‘‘It took me until the evening to come right.
Given that I have a job where I have to use my brain, it’s probably not the brightest decision to risk long term damage to it.
‘‘For years after the fight I was keen to jump back in the ring, but in hindsight
I’m glad I listened to my partner
Emma and didn’t.’’
Both
McIvor and
Kilgallon trained with boxing professionals and arrived at the fight in peak condition – and Kilgallon was at least 20kg lighter than his opponent. He knew his limits.
‘‘If you didn’t prepare properly it would be a foolish thing to do. I was conscious of what I was about to put myself through.
‘‘If I had been matched with an ex-sportsman there’s no way I would have fought.’’
Former six-time New Zealand boxing champion Barry Galbraith was a judge at the charity event in Christchurch in which Parsons was injured last Saturday, but cannot comment on the events on the night.
He has been involved in the charity circuit off and on, and said matching fighters of equal ability was the most crucial aspect of safety.
Matchmaking takes into account a fighter’s weight, age and time spent in the ring. But Galbraith said a key component was a boxer’s ability and fitness. ‘‘When Dean Lonergan kicked all of this [charity boxing] off he made sure you had fit athletes facing off against athletes,’’ Galbraith said. ‘‘Most athletes have been into the deep end of exhaustion, similar to what happens in the ring.’’ As time has gone on, corporate boxing has become more popular, which has led to more and more people thinking jumping in the ring is easy and just a bit of fun, he said.
‘‘But if you get someone who plays a bit of squash at the weekend with someone who’s played 10 years of competitive sport – it’s going to be a huge advantage and potentially dangerous.’’
Galbraith believes someone with matchmaking skills should be designated to every corporate event and look over all the background and details to ensure the right people are paired up.
‘‘The matchmaking is just so important – it needs to be more in depth and not just throwing two people together.’’
Galbraith said organisers of events get the appropriate sanctions from a boxing association, but at times employ trainers who aren’t certified boxing coaches.
At other events where Galbraith has trained the contestant, he’s been forced to pull fighters out of the bout because he felt they weren’t ready to get in the ring.
‘‘As a trainer, your job is to do the best you can for your fighter to make sure they’re not going to get hurt. So if they’re not up for it you need to have a chat to them and say it’s not going to work.
‘‘In boxing you’re either hit or you get hit – that’s what it’s about. There is going to be some affect or some damage. It’s that simple.’’ Stephen McIvor, right, during his fight with fellow journalist Steve Kilgallon
‘‘I know other coaches have done that, too. But a trainer who has less experience might not see the signs that indicate that needs to happen.’’
However, he said some onus must lie with the competitor. It’s a sport with obvious risks apparent before anyone signs up, even at a professional level with experienced fighters.
Like McIvor and other boxing experts, Galbraith believes that headgear should be mandatory for non-professional corporate events.
‘‘The head guards give protection, especially around the back of the head if you are unfortunate enough to hit the canvas. It also protects the upper temple and avoids cuts from head clashes.’’
Most people outside boxing wouldn’t know there are between 30 and 40 different brands of 16 ounce gloves.
Some in the profession have called for the corporate circuit to be banned, while others say it would lead to ungoverned fight events happening underground.
But Galbraith believes it needs experienced people running them and look at the rules and restrictions and try to improve them.
McIvor agrees: ‘‘My experience won’t be like everyone else’s.
‘‘I was 48 at the time and I knew what it was doing, but sometimes for the sake of puffing our chest out we might not be thinking rationally.’’
‘‘The matchmaking is just so important, it needs to be more in depth and not just throwing two people together.’’ Former national boxing champion Barry Galbraith