British Boxing Board of Control – Syndication Server

Live boxing events evidently will resume next month

Bob Arum is finalizing plans to stage live cards early next month, Also, the U.K. government opened the door to a possible June restart.

Boxing apparently will resume next month.

Promoter Bob Arum said during a radio interview that he’s completing plans to stage “two or three events every week” with spectators in early June in one Las Vegas hotel on ESPN’s platforms beginning in early June. Arum’s company, Top Rank, is based there.

And, in the U.K, a government plan to ease the coronavirus lock down seems to open the door for live shows – also behind closed doors – as early as June 1.

Arum said during the interview, on SiriusXM’s “At that Fights,” that all necessary precautions would be taken. That includes extensive testing for the virus.

“We have contacted most of our fighters,” Arum said. “We plan to launch the first week in June in a safe, secure way. We’re going to initially launch in Nevada. We’ve made arrangements or are making arrangements with a hotel. We can get everybody tested, put them in a bubble and get these fights on. And unfortunately, because a lot of it requires so much extra work and care and testing that we’re going to limit our fight shows to four fights a card. But that’s the bad side.

“The good side is we hope, we’re arranging with ESPN to do two or three events every week. So, because you know, you take a big sports network like ESPN, ESPN+, they don’t have live sports now and putting boxing on, particularly top-level boxing, will attract big audiences.”

Arum didn’t indicate who would be showcased on the cards or which hotel would host the events.

Meanwhile, the U.K plan, released as a document Monday, details the conditions under which sporting events and other activities can resume. That includes “permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact”.

The June 1 date is only a starting point. It could change depending on the level of containment but officials encouraged organizers to begin planning. Plus, the British Boxing Board of Control has set a goal of restarting the sport in July in its own guidelines, released last week.

The government document does not indicate when spectators might be allowed to attend events. Businesses in which people come into close contact with one another – such as movie theaters and hair salons – won’t resume until at least July 4. Allowing fans to return to venues could come after that.

“[It] may only be fully possible significantly later depending on the reduction in numbers of infections,” the document states.

U.K. promoters have discussed ways to resume the sport but no specific post-lock down events have been announced.

UFC held UFC 249 without spectators on Saturday, it’s first event since the lock down was implemented.

Video: Ak & Barak discuss U.K. guidelines to restart boxing

The British Boxing Board of Control this week announced tentative guidelines under which it plans to restart boxing as early as next month. That includes banning the traditional spit bucket, although authorities have said they are discussing an …

The British Boxing Board of Control this week announced tentative guidelines under which it plans to restart boxing as early as next month.

That includes banning the traditional spit bucket, although authorities have said they are discussing an enclosed device that would allow fighters to expectorate during their fights.

Of course, a long list of safety precautions comprise the plan in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In this episode of The Ak & Barak Show, courtesy of DAZN, hosts Akin Reyes and Barak Bess discuss the guidelines.

The Ak & Barak Show is available on DAZN and Sirius XM Fight Nation, Channel 156.

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The BBBofC is working on an “apparatus” that would allow boxers to safely spit between rounds as part of its latest plan to restart boxing.

Spitting in boxing might never be the same.

The British Boxing Board of Control is working on an “apparatus” that would allow fighters to safely spit out water – or whatever else — between rounds as part of its latest plan to restart boxing amid the coronavirus pandemic, although officials provided no details on the device.

The BBBofC is targeting a July return.

The five-page plan, which clarifies earlier guidelines, includes a line that reads: “No spitting from Boxers when in corners.” However, BBBofC General Secretary Robert W. Smith told The Associated Press it isn’t like to be a hard and fast rule.

“We’re working on apparatus in the corner where a boxer can refresh themselves in a safe and clean-as-possible way,” Smith said. “They’ll be able to refresh themselves with water and obviously gargle … and dispense with that water in as clean-as-possible way.

“An apparatus to do that will hopefully be in place. We’ll have to have something that’s closed.”

Among other guidelines the BBBofC plans to follow:

No fans will be in attendance.
Boxers, referees, trainers and other personnel will be transported to the venue wearing protective masks.
Boxers will fight without masks but referees and cornermen will be required to leave them on.
No ring announcers, round card girls or TV cameras will be allowed inside the ring.
The BBBofC will review all proposed venues, which will be “cleaned to a medical standard” before the event.
Only essential officials, promoters and broadcasters can attend.
Those in high-risk categories — for example, the elderly or people with asthma — should not attend.
Everyone at an event will be tested for COVID-19.
Boxers, trainers and referees will self-isolate at a hotel until their test results are determined.

Another stipulation is that no championship fights will take place initially because more people would be required to attend.

“If procedures are working well, we bring in the championships,” Smith said. “The whole thing is up for discussion.”

Smith also said that the targeted month to restart the sport is flexible.

“It depends what is said on Sunday from the government, if we’re on lock down a further period of time,” Smith said. “It may end up in August, it may end up in September. We’re not over this crisis yet.”

Some boxing figures in the U.K. have not embraced the guidelines.

Promoter Eddie Hearn, with whom Smith said he’s on the same page, told the BBC that new regulations are “huge barriers to overcome,” including increased costs of staging an event.

Trainer Joe Gallagher Tweeted: “Why the rush and do things in half measures? Make sure everyone is safe and well and let’s look at getting going in September. Give everyone time to get back training, sparring and make sure everyone is safe.”

British authorities unveil plan to resume boxing this summer

The British Boxing Board of Control has announced a detailed course of action when the coronavirus pandemic allows boxing to resume.

The U.K. has a plan to resume boxing this summer.

The British Boxing Board of Control has announced a detailed course of action when the coronavirus pandemic allows it to put fighters back into the ring,

“At present there is no date for lockdown to end,” the announcement begins. “Public health and safety is everyone’s top priority and the British Boxing Board of Control is taking Government advice so that we can best advise all our licence (sic) holders as to when professional Boxing in the UK can resume. We recognise (sic) that licence holders will want to prepare for restrictions being lifted and sport resuming.

“It is important to recognise that when professional Boxing promotions can resume there may be restrictions in place.”

Among key points of the plan:

The BBBofC would have to approve all venues used for boxing.
Cards initially are likely be staged without a live audience.
All participants will be tested for COVID-19.
Strict social distancing will be required.
All participants might be required to wear personal protective gear
Participants will have been required to be quarantine before the event.
All cards will be limited to five fights, although that might be adjusted.
The BBBofC will work with medical authorities to have personnel in place.

The pandemic has brought sporting events to halt for more than a month, although a boxing card was staged in Nicaragua on Saturday.

Here is the compete BBBofC statement:

British Boxing Board of Control Statement to Promoters on resumption of Boxing post COVID-19 lockdown

At present there is no date for lockdown to end. Public health and safety is everyone’s top priority and the British Boxing Board of Control is taking Government advice so that we can best advise all our licence holders as to when professional Boxing in the UK can resume. We recognise that licence holders will want to prepare for restrictions being lifted and sport resuming. It is important to recognise that when professional Boxing promotions can resume there may be restrictions in place.

When will BBBofC licensed tournaments commence?

Depending upon Government decisions it is hopeful that professional Boxing will commence in July 2020 and we will continue to use our best endeavours to do so and are working closely with our Promoters.

Will crowd attending tournaments / mass gatherings be permitted?

Initially, it is unlikely that crowd attending promotions will be permitted. In that situation the emphasis will be on minimal numbers of Officials, Licence Holder’s, members of the Promoter’s team and broadcasting personnel to facilitate a tournament that meets all BBBofC safety requirements.

Which venues will be used / available?

No tournament will be permitted to run unless the venue has been approved by the BBBofC post the Government lockdown being lifted.

Who should NOT attend tournaments?

Any person who has increased risk of severe illness from Coronavirus (COVID-19)

How many contests will be on each promotion?

Maximum 5 contests, however, this position will be reviewed by the BBBofC.

What COVID-19 precautions will be in place at tournaments?

There will be a pre-tournament medical form, COVID-19 testing and pre-tournament quarantine. Any person attending the tournament will be required to complete a BBBofC COVID-19 medical form. If a completed form is not received, then attendance at a tournament will not be permitted. All licence holders and those personnel in attendance will be required to undertake COVID-19 testing. The time frame for these tests will be confirmed at a later date. The BBBofC will be issuing guidance to all licence holders and parties involved on the requirement for personal protective equipment at tournaments in due course.

Social distancing:

It is highly probable that social distancing measures will be in place for some time after lockdown is lifted. With this in mind there will be strict social distancing measures put in place by the BBBofC and the Promoter for all tournaments. This is to protect all individuals attending the promotion.

Hospitals & Medical Officers:

BBBofC Head Office will directly contact hospitals identified as destinations for Emergency Department or Neurosurgical care. All doctors appointed to the promotion must be registered BBBofC Medical Officers. We will continue to follow the Government and Medical Authorities advice and keep the situation under review and when possible find a way of permitting Boxing when it is safe to do so. Further advice will be supplied to Promoters in due course.

We would like to re-emphasise that our thoughts are with everyone affected by COVID-19. Please stay home and stay safe.

Eddie Hearn planning series of cards ‘in unique environment’

Promoter Eddie Hearn is making plans for a busy four- to six-week U.K. boxing schedule – without spectators – in a “unique environment.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn is making plans for a busy four- to six-week U.K. boxing schedule – without spectators – in what he called a “unique environment,” according to the U.K.’s Daily Star.

Hearn must wait for government officials to ease social distancing regulations and the OK from the British Boxing Board of Control, which would ensure that medical personnel would be available amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hearn said he envisions a tightly controlled facility set up to handle what he has in mind but didn’t offer details.

An announcement on the timing could come the first week of May.

“We have to be more careful than other sports such as darts or snooker is because of the medical requirements,” Hearn said. “We have to make sure it’s safe. We are in the process of building a unique environment for boxing to return.

“That will be our own environment that we will self create for a period of probably between four and six weeks. We will stage a number of shows. It’s definitely a unique project. There is a lot of work to be done and don’t want to give too much away to competitors.

“It will be a unique environment that will focus on the safety of the boxers, focus on delivering fights for the boxers and delivering unique TV content for our broadcasters. We don’t want to take any chances. though.

“For the sake of a few months we are not going to put people at risk of contracting an illness which could potentially be fatal, so we won’t do it unless it is safe.”

Hearn doesn’t expect to stage major events during this period. For example, he doesn’t want the heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev to take place behind closed doors if it doesn’t have to be.

He could see staging that fight abroad.

“Some countries will start operations before others,” he said. “In America some states will be safer to work in than others. A.J. is quite adamant that this fight should take place in the U.K. but A.J. also wants to fight.

“With regards to Saudi [Arabia], I’m not sure we can say the Pulev fight can take place there but what we can say is that the Pulev fight could take place in an alternative country to the U.K. if the U.K. is not ready.

“I don’t want to do A.J. behind closed doors but there will come a point where we can’t stall his career any further, and if there comes a point where we have to do it behind closed doors then we will.”

British boxing officials hoping to restart sport as soon as June

British boxing authorities have tentative plans in place to resume the sport as early as June.

The British Boxing Board of Control has canceled all cards through the end of May but believe shows, likely without spectators, could come soon after that if a government-ordered lock down to battle the coronavirus is lifted.

“We hope to be back in early June or at least by the end of that month and July at the outside,” Robert Smith, general secretary of the BBBofC, told BoxingScene.com.

Smith went on: “There may be a situation that we are limited with the amount of people who are allowed to attend, so we may not be looking at any big arena shows at the moment. The first shows could be behind-closed-doors.”

Of course, the availability of medical personnel at boxing cards is an issue.

Doctors, nurses and paramedics are as busy as they’ve ever been dealing with the pandemic. Can any of them be spared to for ringside duty? And what if a fighter must be treated at a hospital? Will medical personnel have the time and space to accommodate him or her?

“We have 125 doctors that we work with,” Smith told BoxingScene.com. “I’ve spoken to several about what will be possible. As well as what the boxers have been going through without earning any money, we have to be appreciative to what our doctors have been dealing with over this time.

“A lot of the private ambulance and paramedic companies we work with are working for the NHS right now. It is always the case that before a show goes ahead, the nearest hospital with a neurological unit is informed in advance to ensure there will be space in the event of an injury.”

Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders fight in jeopardy?

Billy Joe Saunders isn’t as likely to face Canelo Alvarez in light of the controversial video he posted and the shutdown of the sport.

The chances of Billy Joe Saunders fighting Canelo Alvarez now seem slimmer.

Saunders, reportedly set to be Alvarez’s next opponent, has been suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control for posting on social media a tongue-in-cheek video on how to commit domestic violence.

That and the sport’s shutdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic could leave Saunders out of the picture. Instead, Alvarez could fight Gennadiy Golovkin, with whom he has an agreement for a third fight.

“That all depends if boxing’s back for the summer,” promoter Eddie Hearn told iFL TV when asked whether the Alvarez-Saunders fight would happen. “Obviously we’ve gotta get over his viral video, which has upset a lot of people, me included. That’s another conversation.

“Regarding Canelo, I think that it all depends when boxing’s back. I think both Canelo and GGG would like to have a fight before they fight each other. That was their original plan, but again it depends how far back in the year boxing begins.

“I think if it’s July, I think Billy Joe will get that fight. I think if it starts going to September, October, November and Canelo’s only gonna box once this year, then maybe he chooses to have the biggest fight he can.”

Alvarez and Saunders agreed to fight on May 2 in Las Vegas but the fight was never formally announced and later postponed because of the pandemic.

Saunders, speaking to talkSPORT on Monday, apologized for the video.

“I looked at it as a bit of a joke at first,” he said. “I obviously wasn’t thinking right. … Looking back at it now I can clearly see the destruction it has caused among the women suffering from domestic violence. It was a silly mistake, but I didn’t intentionally mean to cause harm to anyone and I certainly wouldn’t promote domestic violence.

“My sense of humor is not everyone’s cup of tea. I can only take it back and apologize for it. I’ve spoken to my manager and among other things I will be donating £25,000 ($31,000) to support domestic violence charities. It is clearly a silly thing to do and I can’t take it back.”

British boxing authorities cancel all cards through May

The British Boxing Board of Control canceled all scheduled cards through the end of May because of the coronavirus pandemic.

More fights are off.

The British Boxing Board of Control canceled all scheduled cards through the end of May because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to talkSPORT.

That includes the May 2 heavyweight fight between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin, which has tentatively been pushed back to July 4 at Manchester Arena. Katie Taylor was scheduled to defend her lightweight titles against Amanda Serrano on that card.

Also, a lightweight title eliminator between Lee Selby and Geroge Kambosos Jr. scheduled for May 9 in Cardiff, Wales has been pushed back to July 11.

The heavyweight fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Dereck Chisora, which was postponed and rescheduled for May 23 in London, is off again. Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing reportedly is working on a new date.

And Hearn told talkSPORT that the Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev title fight scheduled for June 20 at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is unlikely to happen on that date. He said July 25 is a possibility .

“Every sport is looking at their calendar but nobody knows when [it will resume],” Hearn said. “We all hope we can return to some kind of boxing in June, whether that is behind closed doors at first, whether that is back in small hall shows, and then we hope we can get to the bigger stuff by the end of June, early July. But we are completely guessing.”

As for Joshua-Pulev, Hearn said: “We have looked at alternative dates for everything without knowing anything concrete. We have ongoing conversations with Tottenham to say that if the Premier League extends and does get played in June then we’ll be pushed back.

“We do have a date of July 25 held at Spurs as well, which is more realistic. It is five weeks after June 20. But we haven’t gone on sale with that, we haven’t made an official announcement in terms of seat details and on-sale dates, so we have got less pressure on that. There is more pressure for Anthony to fight twice this year.

“… I know there is a bigger picture going on but everybody in sport, eveybody in business right now, needs to be working on a solution, the outcome, what happens when we get through this because it is going to be a horrifically messy time for all businesses, all sports, everything, when we do come out the other side.

“The world won’t be the same again and, in a lot of cases, we will have to start from scratch.”

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.”

Fight in Sheffield, England under investigation after betting spike

The fight between Dave Allen and Dorian Darch on Saturday in Sheffield, England is under investigation after an unusual spike in betting.

A fixed fight?

Allegations are under investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control and the Gambling Commission, which have begun a probe of a heavyweight fight Saturday in Sheffield England, according to a report in the Sun.

The Sun reported that BBBofC secretary Robert Smith confirmed Monday that an investigation is underway

A suspicious spike in betting on Dave Allen’s third round stoppage of Dorian Darch prompted the investigation.

Allen, a 9-2 favorite, struggled through the first two rounds of the scheduled six-rounder. In the third, he stopped Darch. A couple of hours before the bout, there was a reported spike in wagers on an Allen to win in the third. According to SunSport, SkyBet detected the sudden surge in bets and alerted other betting shops in the U.K.

Darch (12-12, 10 KOs) was knocked down twice in the third. The first knockdown appears to the result of a glancing left hook.

Including Saturday, Darch has lost seven straight fights, all by stoppage. He hasn’t won a fight since July 2016. He denied on social media that there was any wrongdoing.

“Should have chucked a couple of quid on myself if I knew lol,’’ Darch said on Twitter

Allen (18-5-2, 15 KOs) also responded, saying: “People were saying it was a fix because I was planning on it being a six-round move around.

“A few of my mates had a lot of money on the points win and it didn’t come in, but I am not the sort of guy who picks a round to win, I am not really good enough to do that.’’

Tag: British Boxing Board of Control