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Canadian fallout for Nova Scotia event
By Zach Arnold | March 19, 2006
By Zach Arnold
An update about the recent controversy regarding the Nova Scotia boxing commission regulating their first MMA show in Halifax. Today, the Canadian Press reports that members of the Nova Scotia boxing community are distancing themselves from “brutal cage fighting.” The report also states that Boxing Canada, the body regulating amateur boxing, will suspend any boxer participating in MMA fights. Boxing Canada is based out of the province of Ontario, which has a ban on MMA.
HALIFAX (CP) – Nova Scotia’s amateur boxing community is distancing itself from an upcoming cage-fighting competition critics say is little more than a legalized dog fight.
This news comes after yet another boxer dying, this time out of Evansville, Indiana. Evansville is the site where promoter Jeff Osborne has an MMA show scheduled for on Saturday (3/25). This AP article states that the boxer (Kevin Payne) was going to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next month on HBO.
Topics: All Topics, MMA, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Yes, because having an option of punching a guy until he can’t get is so much better than having an option of punching a guy until he can’t get up or submitting him with an arm bar.
I think that the people in charge of boxing are more worried about the injuries to their wallets rather than the injuries to the fighters.
As a Canadian, and more importantly an MMA fan, this is really disappointing. Although, I’m less shocked given that Boxing Canada is based in Ontario, where banning anything remotely dangerous and unknown is much better for people rather than allowing people the freedom to learn and educate themselves about an activity.
To be fair, there have been some horrendous beatdowns in MMA that led to bad injuries (such as Enson Inoue (I believe) suffering a hematoma from his brutal beatdown at the hands of Igor Vovchanchyn). It’s not like MMA can’t have very serious injuries and near death experiences happen.
The thing is, though, because it is in its growing stages as a ‘legitimate’ sport rather than an ‘underground’ sport, there tends to be a lot more premature stoppages to prevent something that could reflect really, really badly on the sport rather than waiting a few more seconds to see if a guy could recover. Boxing, meanwhile, has seemed to allow completely incompetent referees such as Marcos Rosales (who let Glen Johnson beat on an out cold George Khalid-Jones until Glen pleaded for him to stop the bout) or Tony Weeks (who, along with the corner and the ring doctor, let Leavander Johnson get beat into a coma and finally death).
Seriously, Boxing needs more competent officials and MMA needs someone like ‘Tex’ Rickard (who bought good press for Boxing as well as his own cards to promote the sport and open doors in many states) who will truly bring MMA forward in the US & Canada into a real ‘Golden Age’. Just my thought, though.
[…] The Indianapolis Star (via the Associated Press) has an article talking about a panel investigation into the death of 34-year old boxer Kevin Payne. In the article, trainers claim that they had noticed some troubling signs about Payne’s health a month before the fight. Specifically, dehydration due to weight cutting to make weight for the boxing fight. However, a coroner says that a broken neck was likely what caused the death. Vanderburgh County Coroner Don Erk said Payne suffered a broken neck and likely died from “subdural bleeding” caused by blows to the head. An autopsy had not yet been performed. […]
[…] There was a level of negative feedback for the proposed MMA event in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 4/29. Then, Boxing Canada stepped in and announced their opposition to the event (mainly because it would hurt a local boxing card scheduled in May in Halifax). And now, according to The Chronicle Herald in Halifax, city councilman Bob Harvey is proposing a ban on MMA in Halifax on Tuesday. […]