BAN CALL FOR FIGHT BOSS IN RACE STORM
BOXER’S ANGER OVER ANTI-ISLAMIC POSTS
An Olympic hopeful has called on boxing manager Alex Morrison to be banned following a racist post on social media.
Harris Akbar, 20, wants the veteran promoter to be punished by the sports authorities after a post demanding “no more Mosques on Christian lands” appeared on his Facebook page.
Akbar, who is tipped to be a member of the British Olympic squad for Tokyo 2020, has accused Morrison of anti-Islamic behaviour and wants the British Board of Boxing Control to kick him out of the sport.
Welterweight Akbar, who is the reigning British champion and is also a European silver medallist and world bronze medallist, said: “It’s racism. No one should really be doing that. I think he should be banned. We shouldn’t have that in boxing.
“There are a few Muslims in the British team and we’ re all hoping to do well for our country.
“I’m one of the bright prospects in boxing and you’re talking about a gold medal.
“Boxing is family and people involved in the sport shouldn’t be doing stuff like this.”
The inflammatory image, which appeared earlier this month, shows an 11th-century Crusader.
It bears the words: “No surrender, wake up and smell the coffee. The sound of that shovel hitting the ground is get t ing louder, Prepare yourself for what is to come.”
Morr i son appeared to invite his 4989 Facebook friends to share the image and its message. The post comes almost six years after another hate-fuelled rant about Musl ims appeared on his Facebook page.
That online outburst referred to Muslims as “deceitful scum” and “pigs” and urged people to boycott their businesses.
Trainer Naz Jalil, who runs the Eastburn boxing club near Keighley, Yorkshire, said about a third of his new boxers are Muslim.
Jalil, who coached Britain’s first female Muslim boxer Ambreen Sadiq, added: “This spreads hatred when we’re trying to bring communities together.
“I actively ensure that the Asian lads work with the white lads.
“If they are friends in the gym, they will be friends outside the gym. Boxing is about bringing people together.”
Morrison, 79, who manages threetimes world champion Ricky Burns, runs his own gym in Dalmarnock in the east end of Glasgow. He was made bankrupt at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2015 by rival promoter Frank Warren over £50,000 in unpaid libel damages.
The British Boxing Board of Control said: “We will investigate the matter.”
Morrison did not respond to our request for a comment.
Olympic hopeful urges chiefs to take action