Category: Coronavirus

Large number of Thailand’s coronavirus cases traced to kick boxing event

A large percentage of coronavirus cases in Thailand were traced to kick boxing events in Bangkok.

Do you wonder what havoc could result if a fight card – with spectators – were held during the coronavirus threat? A case in Thailand provides an alarming snapshot.

Thailand reported 188 new cases on Sunday, bringing the Asian country’s total to 599, a public health office told the Bangkok Post. And many of those infected are connected to a kick boxing event held on March 6 at the indoor Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok. An estimated 5,000 people attended the 11-bout card.

As of Saturday, at least 72 of the cases were linked to that event and two smaller cards, according to The Associated Press.

Evidently, many of those who attended the first important Muay Thai event of the season were exposed to the virus and returned home unaware of the danger they posed.

“We were squeezed against each other,” one attendee said. “Normally the place isn’t that crowded. At other regular events, there would be about 1,500 to 2,000 people in the stadium but because this was a special match, there were many more people.”

Thai officials fear that many of those who attended the events from all parts of the country are what The Associated Press called, “viral time bombs.”

“The more people who report themselves, the easier it is for us to track down others with the virus before it’s too late.” said Dr. Thaveesin Visanuyothin, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry.

British promoters at a loss: ‘We don’t know what we’re dealing with here’

British boxing promoters find themselves in a state of doom and gloom as a result of the ravaging effects of the coronavirus…

For once, boxing promoters are tongue-tied. 

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the sport, forcing promoters to cancel high-profile boxing cards. In Britian, as elsewhere, the virus has left a preternaturally cutthroat group of veterans scratching their heads, wondering what’s next.

In a recent interview with the British magazine Boxing News, promoters Kalle Sauerland, Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren and Mick Hennessy described how the global pandemic has impacted their business.

Leaders in the art of fabrication, few of them could find a way to put a positive spin on the news. For once, they admit to being in a state of helplessness. 

“We’re not ‘in the know’ of anything,” said Sauerland, who had to postpone the March 21 World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight final bout between Mairis Briedis and Yuniel Dorticos. (The new date has been tentatively scheduled for May 16.)

“We don’t know anything about timelines, we don’t know anything about restrictions or the different kind of restrictions,  so we will continue being experts at what we do, but we will be under the guidelines of authorities, local and international.

“We have to look at the policies of different governments, but they’re not all aligned. … That makes it even more complicated, especially when when you run an international operation. So, for us, we are bound to what the experts are telling us because we’re not experts in this field. And I think any promoter giving any other advice, apart from talking about left hooks and uppercuts, should stick to their own business.”

Like Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Hearn is exploring the possibility of staging fights closed off to the public but admits that such endeavors come at a high financial cost. Hearn, who promotes shows on both sides of the Atlantic, recently had to postpone the March 28  Josh Kelly-David Avenesyan bout in London and the April 17 Regis Prograis-Maurice Hooker bout in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

“We are certainly open to events behind closed doors, but the bigger events are always dependent on the revenue generated at the box office,” Hearn said. “There are plenty of moving parts, but we are thinking on our feet to make sure our fighters are taken care of and the public safety is of course considered.”

Said Hennessy, the former promoter of Tyson Fury: “The whole situation is crazy, it’s on another level. I’ve never experienced anything as potentially devastating to boxing in all my career. There is no insurance to cover us for this. We’ve made lots of plans and payments.”

Of all the promoters it was Warren, the oldest of the group, who sounded the most distraught.

“When you think about it, our industry is in trouble,” Warren said. “The boxers don’t get a wage. Unlike footballers, they get paid when they fight. So if they don’t fight, they don’t get a wage.

“All I care about is the long-term health of the sport, and at the moment, that’s at a risk. The TV companies make money by showing sport on their channels, but they’ve got no sport to show at the moment. Those same TV companies bring a lot of money into boxing, so it’s quite challenge to say the least.

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

Olympics on brink in part because athletes – including boxers – can’t train

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is in danger of being postponed in part because athletes — including boxers — can’t train properly.

Amateur boxing’s postponement of Olympic qualifying events during the last couple of weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic are just part of a growing move toward a postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The International Olympic Committee announced Sunday that it will consider postponement. In a letter to athletes, IOC President Thomas Bach said an outright cancellation has been ruled out. However, re-staging the Games at another date is possible.

According to the letter, the IOC has given itself four weeks to come up with a decision.

Last week, USA Boxing said it would review its selection procedure for the men’s and women’s teams. USA Boxing had already canceled all tournaments through March 31. It was not clear whether they would, or could, be re-scheduled.

Boxers, like athletes in every sport, are having trouble training. Gyms are closed, worldwide.

Until Sunday, the IOC had said the Tokyo Games would go on. Opening ceremonies are still scheduled for July 24, closing ceremonies for Aug. 9.

However, the IOC began to get mounting pressure to postpone late last week. USA Swimming on Friday asked for a postponement until next year. USA Track & Field asked for one on Saturday.

Some star athletes, including USA swimming gold medalist Katie Ledecky, haven’t been able to train. Pools, like gyms, are closed.

Olympic boxing has been on the decline, mostly because of repeated scandals since American Roy Jones Jr. was robbed of a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games. Still, Olympic boxing has continued to produce fighters who have gone on to make significant impacts in the professional ranks.

Ukrainian Vasiliy Lomachenko, No. 1 in Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound poll, is a two-time gold medalist, 2008 and 2012.

Shakur Stevenson, a 2016 silver medalist in Brazil, is an emerging star at featherweight. Jose Ramirez, a 2012 U.S. Olympian, holds two junior-welterweight titles. Deontay Wilder, who lost a heavyweight title to Tyson Fury on Feb. 22 in a rematch, won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. Claressa Shields is a two-time gold-medalist, 2012 and 2016.

Manny Pacquiao on front lines fighting coronavirus in Philippines

Manny Pacquiao said he’s putting his boxing career aside for the time being to help fight coronavirus in his native Philippines.

Manny Pacquiao has a fight. He is fighting coronavirus.

The Filipino senator is buying testing kits and face masks. He also has donated buses to transport medical personnel to where they are needed in Manila

Pacquiao told The Manila Bulletin he will work with his fellow citizens where ever he has to, even if it puts him at risk of infection.

He told The Bulletin that he was “not afraid to die.” He said it was his duty to help fellow Filipinos.

‘If you are a leader, you have to be a front-liner,’’ Pacquiao said. “You have to lead people and let people see that you are with them. I grew up poor. I know what they feel.”

According the The Bulletin, Pacquiao has helped pay for testing devices and surgical masks. He said he is waiting on a shipment 50,000 more testing kits from China.

Pacquiao had been hoping for a return to the ring in July. He last fought last July 7, scoring a split-decision victory over Keith Thurman for a welterweight belt in Las Vegas.

For now, however, he has shelved plans for a comeback.

“This is the first thing we need to pay attention to,’’ said Pacquiao, who is also concerned that hunger and looting will happen because of the spreading virus. “That’s chaos, and that’s what I fear could happen.”

Hall of Fame officials hoping induction weekend won’t be postponed

International Boxing Hall of Fame officials are hoping that induction weekend takes place in mid-June as scheduled.

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc with boxing and all other sports. One more possible postponement if the threat doesn’t subside soon: The International Boxing Hall of Fame Weekend.

The annual event, in which inductees join the pantheon of great boxers and contributors, has become an institution in June in Canastota, New York.

However, the Hall will be closed through the end of the month and possibly beyond. Executive Direction Ed Brophy told the New York Post that he hopes the event will still take place June 11-14.

“Hall of Fame weekend is still on for mid-June,” Brophy told The Post. “But we’ll continue to follow the rules and regulations of the county and the state and monitor all the different guidelines and watch what happens day-by-day and week-by-week as we go through March.”

The Class of 2020 is a high-powered one, as Bernard Hopkins, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley are the marquee names that will enter the Hall. And, for the first time, women will be inducted. The first three honorees are Christy Martin, Lucia Rijker and Barbara Buttrick.

“It’s an historic class with the first females to be enshrined and have their plaques in the museum,” Brophy said. “Ticket sales for the weekend had been good since the fall when we made the announcement of the inductees. We’re still right on target for have a special weekend. We’re going to continue to monitor the next week and a half and the beginning of April and determine what is happening.

“Everything is day-to-day. It’s hard to forecast out to June. But the best position we can be in is to maintain our plans that are well underway and keep moving forward.”

Jean Pascal, frustrated but compliant, in quarantine instead of gym

Jean Pascal had planned to be training in Miami for a rematch with Badou Jack but instead is in quarantine in Canada.

Jean Pascal planned to be in the gym. Instead, he went into quarantine.

In another example of a world paralyzed by a pandemic, Pascal went to Miami to begin training for a possible rematch with Badou Jack. He wanted to be ready. He planned on getting an early start. But coronavirus did to Pascal what it has been doing to everyone else. It put plans on hold.

Pascal arrived in Miami just as the threat began to force border closures. Pascal, who had hoped to train in south Florida for two weeks before moving into a camp in Puerto Rico, decided to go home to Quebec.

Instead of two weeks of training, he got two weeks of quarantine.

“They closed the borders,’’ Pascal told The Montreal Journal. “So I decided to come home wisely.”

Two weeks of quarantine is the Canadian recommendation for returning citizens. Pascal complied.

“I’m in quarantine, but my daughter Angel is not with me,’’ he said. “She will stay with my aunt for the duration of my confinement.”

Still, Pascal is frustrated.

“It is a waste of money because we paid for plane tickets, hotel rooms and food,’’ he said. “It’s a shame to come home and start from scratch. In a case where there is a cancellation due to an injury, we already have another fixed date. Because of this virus, we have no idea what will happen next. I don’t know if I’m going to go back to the ring in June, July or fall.’’

Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs) won a split decision over Jack (22-3-3, 13 KOs) for a light heavyweight title on Dec. 28 in Atlanta. It was controversial. A rematch looked inevitable.

“I did not yet have a fixed date for my next fight,” Pascal said. “However, I knew I was going to get back in the ring before the start of the summer.’’

Now, Pascal will wait.

“When I have a date, I am able to align my mind according to that,’’ he said. “Since it’s all in the air, it’s hard to keep motivated for training. It is especially hard to stay motivated in the chaos we are experiencing at the moment. I would find myself a little selfish to be so hungry, given that people are dying and many others are sick.”

Eddie Hearn tries to envision Anthony Joshua’s immediate future

Promoter Eddie Hearn might starting focusing on a Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight if Joshua-Kubrat Pulev doesn’t happen fairly soon.

It’s hard to see beyond the chaos of cancellations and postponements, but Eddie Hearn is trying to get a glimpse of what might happen if and when the coronavirus pandemic subsides.

Business as normal? Probably not.

More chaos is the best bet.

From the chaos, a scheduling scramble is likely.

Already, questions are emerging bout whether heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s mandatory title against Kubrat Pulev will happen on June 20 at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London. Pulev told a television network in his native Bulgaria, BTV, that he was told it would not.

The quote was picked up in by U.K. media. Hearn, of Matchroom Boxing and Joshua’s promoter, said he was still planning to move forward with the June 20 bout.

But Hearn also said there were contingencies for the bout to be moved to a later date and perhaps a different site. A complication is soccer. The season is suspended. But if the virus subsides, it will resume at the stadium at about the same time the Joshua-Pulev fight is scheduled.

Joshua-Pulev might have to move. But to when? And where? That opens up other possibilities, Hearn told Sky Sports.

“Well I think, all of a sudden, does the Joshua-[Tyson] Fury fight start taking priority, maybe over a Pulev fight, if the Pulev fight extends beyond the summer,’’ Hearn said. “There’s so much that could happen right now.

“I mean anything is possible, but contractually Deontay Wilder is going to want his fight next, whether that’s in July or whether there’s a force majeure (extraordinary event) that takes that to October, November, wherever.’’

Wilder exercised his option for a third fight with Fury after a stoppage loss to his British rival on Feb. 22 in Las Vegas. The projected day for the bout had been July 19. Now, however, it’s impossible to project anything. Fight cards have been cancelled through the end of April. Boxing, like the rest the sports business, has gone dark. Lights up and down the Vegas Strip are off for the foreseeable future.

“Right now, for us, we’re fighting Kubrat Pulev, June 20, and it could be July 25,” Hearn said.

“But everything is uncertain at the moment, while the country and the world tries to contain this pandemic.”

Teofimo Lopez frustrated with Vasiliy Lomachenko’s demands

The lightweight clash between Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko is looking less and less likely because of the coronavirus…

With the coronavirus causing boxing cards to fold left and right, the much anticipated Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez lightweight title bout also appears to be on the cutting block.

The fight, which had a working date of May 30 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, is likely to get postponed. But there are questions as to whether the fight will take place at all even after the pandemic subsides.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Lopez claimed that the Ukrainian had been dragging his feet at the negotiating table for the past few months. Lopez says his side agreed to all the terms; not so with Team Lomachenko.

”We were waiting, particularly on Loma and his team for the fight,” a frustrated Lopez told ESPN. “I think he was being mad difficult with certain things, negotiation-wise. He wanted a bigger cut, he wanted a bigger percentage, such and such.”

Lopez (15-0, 12 KO), a native of Brooklyn who took a piece of the lightweight crown from Richard Commey last December, says Lomachenko even has an issue with the fight’s intended locale.

“We gave him everything he needs and everything he wants, and now he’s complaining about New York. He wants it in Vegas, he wants it in Cali,” Lopez said. “It’s been annoying.

“Honestly, we’re not going to wait on this guy.”

A strapping lightweight, Lopez has long hinted at moving up to 140 pounds in 2020. He wants to unify against Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs), but he also needs to listen to his body.

“I’m not going to just be there like a sitting duck and just wait on this man,” Lopez said. “Obviously, I’ve been saying for a while now that I want to move up to 140, and that is still on my mind. The only thing keeping that from happening and existing is the Loma fight.

“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t occur, it’s not on me. It’s just difficult at times like this because of how things play out and how things are.”

Indeed, in these times, it’s difficult to plan for anything.

“You really can’t do much at times like this,” Lopez said. “It’s unpredictable. You have to really just sit and wait.”

Artur Beterbiev, like many boxers, feeling financial pinch from hiatus

Artur Beterbiev is feeling the adverse effects of the coronavirus after his March 28 fight against Fanlong Meng was canceled.

Artur Beterbiev took it in stride when he received word that his March 28 light heavyweight defense against Fanlong Meng in Quebec City had been canceled because of the coronavirus. He simply continued his workouts, says head trainer Marc Ramsay.

Make no mistake, though: Beterbiev’s wallet took a hit.

Fighters everywhere today are feeling the financial sting these days, especially those who had fights lined up this spring, as Beterbiev did, only to see them postponed or cancelled outright as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramsay estimates that Beterbiev is out anywhere from $35,000- $52,000 ($50,000 to $75,000 in Canadian dollars) in training camp expenses. It’s money he won’t recover for the time being. Maybe not for a long time.

“It’s a true catastrophe,” Ramsay told the The Journal of Montreal. “In addition to not receiving his purse, Artur is going to absorb all the costs for his training camp.

“It’s a camp that had big expenses in terms of the salary for the six-man team, their allowances, flight tickets and housing.”

A possible silver lining is that promoter Top Rank is seriously looking at the option to stage Beterbiev-Meng in a closed studio shut off from the public. That would mean the card would take place in the U.S., which could be especially problematic for Ramsay, Beterbeiv, but also Ramsay’s other client Oscar Rivas, the Colombian heavyweight contender who was scheduled to appear on the undercard.  

The U.S. and Canada recently agreed to close their borders to non-essential traffic. 

“Oscar is in Canada on a renewable work permit. If he has to go to the U.S. for a fight, he wouldn’t be able to return to [Canada] but would have to go back to [his home in] Colombia,” Ramsay told The Journal. “For me and Artur, we would have to be quarantined upon our return. In short, we’d be taking a step backwards.”

Ramsay himself is feeling the adverse effects of the coronavirus on his own business. With the exception of Beterbiev and Rivas, Ramsay has closed off his Montreal gym to his regular clientele and has asked his amateur and professional boxers to stay home. Ramsay is trying to think of creative ways to maintain his stable, but with a public health crisis restricting so many aspects of daily life, good ideas are hard to come by.

“We could maybe do our training camp outside, but even that isn’t optimal,” Ramsay said. “In my opinion, we’re far from doing that. We’ll make plans as soon as we get some precise dates.”

Carl Frampton training alone for a fight without a date

Carl Frampton is at home in Belfast, training by himself for a fight against Jamel Herring that has been announced but not scheduled.

It’s OK to use your elbows these days. In fact, it’s almost mandatory. It’s called social distancing. The elbow, prohibited in the ring, is the way to say hello on the street. Coronavirus is changing the way people interact and boxers train.

At least, it has for Carl Frampton.

Boxing is already lonely enough, but it’s become even more so for Frampton.

He’s at home in Belfast, training by himself for a fight that has been announced yet has not been scheduled. He and Jamel Herring agreed, presumably sealing the deal with an elbow bump instead of a handshake, on a junior lightweight title fight. Frampton hopes for an opening bell in June but knows that’s unlikely.

“I very much doubt the Herring fight will happen in June, but I am training now as if it is, until I hear otherwise,” Frampton told BBC Sport.

Fights are still on the schedule in May and into June. But the cancellations are like falling dominoes. They are expected to continue until the pandemic subsides. Nobody knows when that will happen. If and when it does, there will be a scramble to re-schedule. It’s mess now. It’ll be a mess for a while.

Meanwhile, Frampton can only maintain his conditioning and social distancing. His trainer, Jamie Moore, is in Manchester, England.

“There are a lot more important things to be worrying about,” the former junior featherweight and featherweight champion said. “It wouldn’t be fair on either fighter to prepare for a world title fight in circumstances like this.

“… It’s very difficult to work on tactics and a game plan without a trainer.”

Meanwhile, Frampton is urging that promoters, ruling bodies and regulatory agencies to put together some kind of plan on what to do during the virus threat. And after it.

“The British Boxing Board of Control needs to come together with the promoters and devise some sort of plan for self-employed boxers at this difficult time,” Frampton said. “There is more chance and more likelihood of the bigger fights taking place behind closed doors rather than smaller fights because TV covers a lot of money.

“But at this time everyone is in limbo and doesn’t know what is going on.”