Boxing: Haye v Chisora bout sparks BBBoC threat

Published on 10/05/2012 03:56

The British Boxing Board of Control has warned that all those involved in the impending heavyweight promotion between David Haye and Dereck Chisora will be automatically stripped of their licences.

The Board are determined to come down hard on the show, which has been sanctioned by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation despite neither Haye nor Chisora currently holding licences to box in Britain. The warning means any licence holder, including the promoter, managers, seconds and other fighters on the bill will be stripped of their licence.

The Board said: “Any member of the BBBoC who participates... would thereby evince an intention not to be bound by the Constitution of the BBBoC. In such circumstances the BBBoC would accept that member’s repudiation of the Constitution as terminating his/her membership of the BBBoC and his/her licence.”

While the threat may not unduly worry either Haye or Chisora – who in a sense already have nothing to lose – it could have a devastating impact on those working around the fringes of the promotion.

Chisora is appealing against the Board’s decision to strip him of his licence in April following his press conference brawl with Haye in Munich, rather than hit him with a specific ban.

But, as both he and Haye are unlicensed rather than banned, it was easier for the Luxembourg Boxing Federation to sanction the contest. There is no rule to prevents the exploitation of such a loophole but there is an assumption in the sport that one commission’s ruling will be automatically respected by others.

The Board added: “This is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the decision of the stewards of the British Boxing Board of Control, in respect of Dereck Chisora, for monetary gain. Dereck Chisora’s proper remedy is by way of appealing to the Independent Stewards of Appeal, which is due to take place on July 2, 2012.”