Morris dismay at Chisora Haye brawl
Sports News
FORMER British Boxing Board of Control general secretary John Morris believes the sport has been brought into disrepute by the brawl between Dereck Chisora and David Haye at a press conference at the weekend.
The British pair clashed at a post-fight news conference in Munich following Chisora’s defeat to Vitali Klitschko on Saturday night.
Chisora threatened to ‘shoot’ and ‘burn’ Haye, whose manager Adam Booth suffered cuts during a scuffle, and also accused the former world heavyweight champion of ‘glassing’ him.
Morris, who was secretary of the sport’s governing body between 1986 and 2000, said the scenes were ‘unsavoury’ and ‘unnecessary’ but stressed the safety of what is a quickly-growing pastime for youngsters around the county.
It is understood 15-20,000 amateur boxers are registered in this country and that number is rising.
“This is not the first time something like this has happened but it disgusted me,” said Morris, who is the founder and president of Northampton Amateur Boxing Club.
“There is no need for it and the sport has been brought into disrepute by what happened.
“I don’t know how much damage it will have done to the sport in the public’s mind, we have some fantastic boxers other than the two involved in this incident.
“It is excellent for kids and it is growing all the time. Up to a certain age it is a non-contact sport and it is far safer than a lot of the popular team sports such as football, rugby and cricket.
“But things like this are damaging.”
The actions of Haye and Chisora – who both face criminal charges in Germany – have been condemned across the board by the boxing fraternity and Morris agreed the punishment meted out needs to be harsh.
He also hopes the incident paves the way for the formation of a global governing body, especially as Chisora could obtain a license to fight abroad even if he is suspended by the BBBC.
“Firstly, you can’t suspend somebody for life, it has to be done sine die,” he said. “It can be difficult to enforce a ban like that because there isn’t a world body like in football or cricket.
“If you were to give Dereck Chisora a long ban he would most likely go to the United States and get a license to fight there.
“I campaigned in the 1990s to move to a controlling world organisation in professional boxing and that would be relevant now.
“ They would then have the option to suspend worldwide for a long period. In this instance there needs to be at least a one-year suspension and a very large fine.”
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