JEJU, South Korea, Nov 6 — The gloves are off in the World Boxing Council’s campaign to clean up the sport.
President Jose Sulaiman, speaking to Reuters at the organisation’s annual conference in South Korea, said the WBC’s board of governors had introduced a rule requiring boxers to submit their hand wraps for inspection after bouts.
The regulation is aimed at avoiding the same kind of controversy that surrounded a World Boxing Association fight between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley earlier this year.
In a pre-fight inspection, Margarito’s fist wrappings were called into question and subsequent analysis by the California Department of Justice found them to contain calcium and sulphur, which can harden on the hands.
Margarito lost the fight by technical knockout in the ninth round. He and trainer Javier Capetillo were then banned for a year by the California State Athletic Commission.
Sulaiman said he had no intention of encroaching on the WBA’s territory but explained that the incident had left him in no doubt the wrappings must be examined before and after fights.
“I prefer not to intervene, because that’s a WBA matter. But that is one of the reasons it gave me the message that for the cleanliness of everybody — no doubts, the wrappings,” Sulaiman told Reuters.
“This new rule is to avoid any question. To make people understand there’s nothing that has been even doubtful about a boxing match. Nothing is kept or hidden away.”
The Margarito incident stunned the boxing world and WBC’s Medical Chief Dr Gerald Finerman told Reuters that the organisation could not ignore the wrappings issue.
“I would anticipate that if you put in the rule, all the nonsense would stop,” he said.
“I think the occasion has come up, and you have to make a ruling about it, and inspecting it again is not too much to ask, and that will settle it.” — Reuters
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
