MALTA BOXING COMMISSION - UK, SCOTLAND & IRELAND SANCTIONING

[kamicazze]

I just want to ask one question.

Will you allow Danny Williams to fight on any of your sanctioned bills?

Or freddie flintoff?

Another question. Masters titles - with recent developments is that something your looking at?

[LucaDiCaro]

its as well your opinion Expe is only your's or there would be far less people helping to make boxing safer for the boxers,just what part do you play in our sport apart from critic

It's obvious Expe cares about the sport and good on him for putting the boot in on an outfit that openly advertises it's available championships online with the following blurb...

Not limited to any region or country
Available for boxers from any country
Available to be staged in any country
Provides promoters with a cost effective championship for their events

Incidentally this relates to the Malta boxing commission international championship. This is openly touting a worthless belt online, in the hope some desperado promoter will pay them some wonga so they can pretend to be staging some sort of title fight. The MBC should be ashamed of itself but won't be.

I really don't get how they're going to make boxing safer either, the board have their faults, but safety isn't one of them, they probably have the most stringent safety regulations in the world, some have criticised them for going over the top, Iain Weaver being a case in point. One rule that MBC are missing, or at least wasn't in the OP, and the board have, that is possibly the most important safety regulation IMO, is that all shows must be staged within one hour of a specialist neurological hospital. Without that, if a fighter suffers a brain injury, they don't stand much chance. Really needs to be added in, I've made it clear I'm not a fan of MBC, but if they're going to sanction shows here, or anywhere else in the world, I'd like them to at least be as safe as possible.

Dear expe - read the Boxers section last paragraph - "To ensure that this is possible both Malta Boxing Commission and MBC International contact the local A&E as well as the nearest Neurological centre to inform them that an event will take place, as well as provide direct telephone contact from the Ringside Medical Officer to the nearest A&E or Neurological unit to ensure that they will be on full alert and expect an injured boxer."

I'm afraid though you are wrong on the BBBofC's medical standards as we have undertaken the following since 2012 (again on the boxers section of the post) "Also that at the conclusion of the bout that the competitor is inspected immediately by the official MBC Ringside Medical Officer as well as undertake a post-bout medical.

Should a boxer suffers a head injury during a competition, it is imperative that he or she are transported to the nearest neurosurgical unit as rapidly as possible."

However the BBBofC are just introducing this now - this is from their website read paragraph six as they are going to introduce this only now

"Looking to the Future

Following the recommendations of an independent panel of neurological experts the Board has adopted a number of additional safeguards. These will include:-

Weigh-in times have been brought forward to the day before a contest. In fact weigh-ins must take place between 24 and 36 hours before the relevant tournament.

MRI/MRA brain scans are now compulsory for all boxers upon application for a boxers licence and annual MRI scans for all boxers licensed in Britain upon renewal of licence.

The minimum suspension period for boxers knocked out or stopped by punches to the head will now be between 28 and 45 days at the discretion of the Board’s Medical Officers at ringside.

Referees are now permitted to consult a ringside doctor at any time during a contest.

The two Board Medical Officers at ringside for every contest must enter the ring immediately at the end of all contests to check both boxers. This check will not take the place of the routine examinations that are already required by the Regulations.

Doctors and Paramedics at ringside must be clearly identifiable and seated where they can see clearly and gain immediate access to the ring should a boxer require treatment."

I covered the Iain Weaver situation in the preamble of my post - I would suggest reading that for the true facts not the misleading information that the BBBofC stated on BoxRec last year.

[LucaDiCaro]

I just want to ask one question.

Will you allow Danny Williams to fight on any of your sanctioned bills?

Or freddie flintoff?

Another question. Masters titles - with recent developments is that something your looking at?

Freddie Flintoff is another discussion we had and with the knowledge that we have have on this the answer came back as a big unanimous NO, WE WOULD NOT HAVE LICENSED FREDDIE FLINTOFF and to be honest are appalled the BBBofC did..

The Masters titles have existed for sixteen years, should a promoter request a Masters title to be on their events we would agree to it, as we would do for any existing titles except the WBUv (or WBU German Version as listed on BoxRec) due to their allowing a boxer to defend his world title without current medicals or brain scan. You may remember that we publicly withdrew the sanctioning for an event because of that not that long ago.

[LucaDiCaro]

They let Iain Weaver box for them and he's a near imbecile, so probably YES.

If you had bothered to have read what I had written you would not make such a fool of yourself and make comments without knowing the facts - here's the facts on Mr Weaver - the true facts.

"Mr Weaver holds licenses from Malta Boxing Commission, Nevada Athletic Commission, California State Athletic Commission, New Jersey State Athletic Commission, Florida State Athletic Commission, Mexico and Canada.

Mr Weaver had also been offered licenses by the Boxing Union of Ireland and the Spanish - Mr Weaver didn't take up the Irish one as he would have had to live their for six months, the BBBofC and the EBU maliciously interfered with the Spanish application which lead to them backing out of licensing Mr Weaver - The MBC have the damning e.mails, please note the EBU provided them.

On making his application to the BBBofC Mr Weaver had four eminent Neurologists provide written reports, each of whom stated he is fit to box. The MBC has a team of four Neurology specialists, including two neurosurgeons, who all agreed that that there was no reason to refuse Mr Weaver being issued a Malta Boxing Commission professional Boxers license. We have written confirmation from he other organisations that licensed Mr Weaver that he had undertaken the same procedures - full medical - MRI or C Scan etc and in each case they concluded that they could find no reason not to License Mr Weaver, as such there has only ever been one organisation that has refused to license Mr Weaver and that is the BBBofC"

[kamicazze]

I just want to ask one question.

Will you allow Danny Williams to fight on any of your sanctioned bills?

Or freddie flintoff?

Another question. Masters titles - with recent developments is that something your looking at?

Freddie Flintoff is another discussion we had and with the knowledge that we have have on this the answer came back as a big unanimous NO, WE WOULD NOT HAVE LICENSED FREDDIE FLINTOFF and to be honest are appalled the BBBofC did..

The Masters titles have existed for sixteen years, should a promoter request a Masters title to be on their events we would agree to it, as we would do for any existing titles except the WBUv (or WBU German Version as listed on BoxRec) due to their allowing a boxer to defend his world title without current medicals or brain scan. You may remember that we publicly withdrew the sanctioning for an event because of that not that long ago.

Thanks for replying. What about Danny Williams as previously mentioned?

Is there not another wbu that you do sanction?

[LucaDiCaro]

Luca, whats the chances of this happening soon... will we be seeing BBBoC licensed boxers on MBC shows ? and if so under what timescale do you see this happening ?

We already do - have BBBofC licensed boxers fighting on various MBC sanctioned events in the UK and Ireland in March.

[LucaDiCaro]

Freddie Flintoff is another discussion we had and with the knowledge that we have have on this the answer came back as a big unanimous NO, WE WOULD NOT HAVE LICENSED FREDDIE FLINTOFF and to be honest are appalled the BBBofC did..

The Masters titles have existed for sixteen years, should a promoter request a Masters title to be on their events we would agree to it, as we would do for any existing titles except the WBUv (or WBU German Version as listed on BoxRec) due to their allowing a boxer to defend his world title without current medicals or brain scan. You may remember that we publicly withdrew the sanctioning for an event because of that not that long ago.

Thanks for replying. What about Danny Williams as previously mentioned?

Is there not another wbu that you do sanction?

I already answered that: "Danny holds a Baltic federation license, if a promoter submits Danny for a fight and as long as the opponent is of similar experience and all medicals are up to date, of course we would consider the bout, as we have no reason not to do so.

For reference so would all Sanctioning organisations - the BBBofC position on Danny is different as they withdrew his license and as such wouldn't allow him to fight on events sanctioned by them on a foreign license - which by the way is exactly the same position if we had withdrawn a boxers license and they wanted to be an opponent on an event sanctioned by ourselves."

And yes, but that's not the reason that we no longer recognise the WBUv (WBU German Version) - we had continued to sanction events featuring their titles until they allowed the boxer to defend his title without current medicals and MRI

[Mimmy]

Luca, (same name as my grandson)

I am glad you have taken time to answer questions as I feel that any new body that decides in invade British earth has a duty of care not to boxers but to fans too. Boxrec is the bible and this is where you will find the heart of boxing fans.

Just another quick question, What would happen if the BBBoC decided not to support MBC and said no British title fights can be fought on any of your bills, would you, or have you have your own titles at some point? As there are enough titles floating around I find it very discouraging that other titles could be come available this only attracts the dregs of the sport. Many of these 'champions' are not worthy of fighting for 'snake belt' never mind a British title or a 'new' MBC title.

Also what will be the financial implications if a boxer does fight for a British title on one of your shows, who and how many sources take money from the pot?

[bripez]

I just want to ask one question.

Will you allow Danny Williams to fight on any of your sanctioned bills?

The BBBofC withdrew Danny's licence so he cannot box on their shows - rather convenient, as I don't think (I may be wrong) that the licence was withdrawn on medical grounds.

Notwithstanding the specific issue, do you think that the BBBofC would allow Danny to fight on one of their bills (as other organisation have and continue to do so) ?

[gobbles]

I just want to ask one question.

Will you allow Danny Williams to fight on any of your sanctioned bills?

The BBBofC withdrew Danny's licence so he cannot box on their shows - rather convenient, as I don't think (I may be wrong) that the licence was withdrawn on medical grounds.

Notwithstanding the specific issue, do you think that the BBBofC would allow Danny to fight on one of their bills (as other organisation have and continue to do so) ?

I think his licence expired and he decided not to try to get it renewed because it was believed it wouldn't be.

[Wake up call]

I just want to ask one question.

Will you allow Danny Williams to fight on any of your sanctioned bills?

Or freddie flintoff?

Another question. Masters titles - with recent developments is that something your looking at?

Freddie Flintoff is another discussion we had and with the knowledge that we have have on this the answer came back as a big unanimous NO, WE WOULD NOT HAVE LICENSED FREDDIE FLINTOFF and to be honest are appalled the BBBofC did..

The Masters titles have existed for sixteen years, should a promoter request a Masters title to be on their events we would agree to it, as we would do for any existing titles except the WBUv (or WBU German Version as listed on BoxRec) due to their allowing a boxer to defend his world title without current medicals or brain scan. You may remember that we publicly withdrew the sanctioning for an event because of that not that long ago.

You say that about Flintoff, but you've actually licensed people of lesser skill. Suz Member being an example.

[LucaDiCaro]

Luca, (same name as my grandson)

I am glad you have taken time to answer questions as I feel that any new body that decides in invade British earth has a duty of care not to boxers but to fans too. Boxrec is the bible and this is where you will find the heart of boxing fans.

Just another quick question, What would happen if the BBBoC decided not to support MBC and said no British title fights can be fought on any of your bills, would you, or have you have your own titles at some point? As there are enough titles floating around I find it very discouraging that other titles could be come available this only attracts the dregs of the sport. Many of these 'champions' are not worthy of fighting for 'snake belt' never mind a British title or a 'new' MBC title.

Also what will be the financial implications if a boxer does fight for a British title on one of your shows, who and how many sources take money from the pot?

For reference Malta Boxing Commission is a British company, one that that mainly operates it's business in another country - in our case Malta - as well as the UK and other European countries.

The BBBofC don't support or recognise us at the moment, the point of the cases is to stop them acting unlawfully - as they have no legal reason or right to stop their boxers fighting on MBC sanctioned events, or MBC licensed boxers fighting on BBBofC events, or us sanctioning events here - which even their own recently updated rules makes clear!

We would be surprised if after the cases are over and done with that the BBBofC would not allow British MBC license holders who are suitably ranked to campaign for the British title, remember these cases are about Anti-Competition and Restriction of Trade.

Plus they would be out of step with every other country in the World, for example an American licensed Irish boxer is still eligible for the Irish title, in fact they have even had them compete for them in America.

For reference National titles are about eligibility by Nation of birth or in many cases proof of parentage from the said country, they are not the domain of the National sanctioning organisation, in this case the BBBofC

One last thing on the British titles specifically, it definitely wouldn't be a problem if the BBBofC said that MBC licensed boxers could only compete for the English or British titles on BBBofC sanctioned events.

We already have the Malta (MBC) National and the Malta (MBC) International titles, we have no intention to introduce English and British ones, we want to work together with the BBBofC to make the domestic titles have even more meaning, by having ALL eligible boxers being able to compete for them.

We feel that there are enough titles about, why introduce others, the BBBofC do not recognise any others than WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and IBO, whilst we recognise, as do virtually every other country, all legitimate titles, so that's not a problem, in fact it just means we have a much wider choice of titles available for MBC sanctioned events.

Let's not say fight for a British title on events sanctioned by ourselves, let's just say any titles as it is the same process regardless of who's sanctioning.

The usual situation is the promoter or manager that pays for the Championship sanction fees, the belt and the officials, however occasionally the boxer will do this himself,.

If it was the British title then the BBBofC would have these fees, the same if it was the WBC or WBU that would receive these fees if it was their Championship being campaigned for.

Nothing would change, it wouldn't add costs - in fact in some cases it could even reduce costs for the promoter if the MBC and BBBofC worked together - but that's another discussion point for when that happens.

[LucaDiCaro]

I just want to ask one question.

Freddie Flintoff is another discussion we had and with the knowledge that we have have on this the answer came back as a big unanimous NO, WE WOULD NOT HAVE LICENSED FREDDIE FLINTOFF and to be honest are appalled the BBBofC did..

The Masters titles have existed for sixteen years, should a promoter request a Masters title to be on their events we would agree to it, as we would do for any existing titles except the WBUv (or WBU German Version as listed on BoxRec) due to their allowing a boxer to defend his world title without current medicals or brain scan. You may remember that we publicly withdrew the sanctioning for an event because of that not that long ago.

You say that about Flintoff, but you've actually licensed people of lesser skill. Suz Member being an example.

Please get your facts right - Suz Member is not licensed by the Malta Boxing Commission, he fought on an MBC sanctioned event on a Tanzania license

[Looking On]

Luca, whats the chances of this happening soon... will we be seeing BBBoC licensed boxers on MBC shows ? and if so under what timescale do you see this happening ?

We already do - have BBBofC licensed boxers fighting on various MBC sanctioned events in the UK and Ireland in March.

Just looked on the schedule and can confirm that on paper this is correct.
If these fights happen and theres no repercussions then that makes things extremely interesting

[telboy66]

It does indeed ,and if there are repercussions it will make things even more interesting

[dalcumly]

Luca

Just an early notice, I'm setting up the South Sudan boxing commission in the UK. We re going to sanction REAL old fashioned British title fights and we're going to present our champions with great big huge purple belts which they can show to all their friends.
We've no money and haven't a clue about our long term plans,but I'm pretty sure we can find a few half wits to take out licences.
The first show will be in a marquee outside my back door !!

[JimJim2009]

Luca

Just an early notice, I'm setting up the South Sudan boxing commission in the UK. We re going to sanction REAL old fashioned British title fights and we're going to present our champions with great big huge purple belts which they can show to all their friends.
We've no money and haven't a clue about our long term plans,but I'm pretty sure we can find a few half wits to take out licences.
The first show will be in a marquee outside my back door !!

[ashedward]

I went to Haye-Chisora so I wont be a hypocrite and slate the Malta commission but to succeed they need to get some bigger promoters on board and some better fights on there bills,I will be interested to see where they are in two years, as a boxing fan it`s all about the quality of the shows for me,so they will need to improve a huge amount before I would go to one of those shows.

[telboy66]

Dalcumly I'm surprised you have left it until now ,why did't you start up your Sudan boxing Organisation back when the WBC,or WBA WBO IBF WBU were all formed,sorry to tell this but I think you may have missed the boat

[expe]

Dalcumly I'm surprised you have left it until now ,why did't you start up your Sudan boxing Organisation back when the WBC,or WBA WBO IBF WBU were all formed,sorry to tell this but I think you may have missed the boat

[JimJim2009]

You may have started the Sudan boxing organisation but I see a gap in the market for the Sudan boxing council, and my postman is going to set up the Sudan boxing association.

[LucaDiCaro]

I went to Haye-Chisora so I wont be a hypocrite and slate the Malta commission but to succeed they need to get some bigger promoters on board and some better fights on there bills,I will be interested to see where they are in two years, as a boxing fan it`s all about the quality of the shows for me,so they will need to improve a huge amount before I would go to one of those shows.

Have to be honest we would love to get some of the bigger promoters on board, but the reality is that this is unlikely to happen until we have fully established and proved ourselves here.

As for equally matched bouts, firstly let me say, they are no worse matched than any average BBBofC show, come on be honest how many times have you looked at a BBBofC fight card and know who is going to win virtually every fight!

We have had some seriously equally matched fights planned (as we encourage 50/50 fights as we want them as much as the fans), however each time we get close to the actual fight night pressure is put on the away fighter to pull out, or their home sanctioning organisation to pull their permission to box (we know where this pressure is coming from but at this point only have verbal confirmation from the boxer's home federation of who has been lobbying to have the fighter pulled and have not been able to obtain written proof!!!!)

Funnily enough though we do have written proof of BBBofC and EBU interference on getting the WBC and IBO Championship fights that we were due to host pulled, unfortunately we don't have written confirmation for the IBF one but had a very interesting chat with their president Darryl Peoples.

Believe it or not one of our licensed boxers lost six very good opponents for both her first fights with us due to 'outside' interference (this is very well documented on most boxing sites). It got so bad that the promoter would make an agreement with his second choice opponent and list that on BoxRec knowing they would be pressured to pull out so he could then slip the first choice in at late notice!

We have never encouraged or agreed on any poorly matched bout, just that we couldn't keep the good match-ups due to outside interference and as such sometimes the match-ups are not as good as the ones that we would have preferred and should have had.

Mind you, even those bouts where 'alternative' opponents were bought in, some have been absolutely fantastic and can honestly say I doubt the original bouts would have been as good.

We are now getting to the position where this will not happen as often, as besides getting more and more of the European federations to allow their boxers to fight on our UK events, even though they still receive pressure from the 'outside source(s)' but there will be more than enough UK based boxers licensed by us to guarantee that we will have more evenly matched bouts in the future.

[Wake up call]

I just want to ask one question.

Freddie Flintoff is another discussion we had and with the knowledge that we have have on this the answer came back as a big unanimous NO, WE WOULD NOT HAVE LICENSED FREDDIE FLINTOFF and to be honest are appalled the BBBofC did..

The Masters titles have existed for sixteen years, should a promoter request a Masters title to be on their events we would agree to it, as we would do for any existing titles except the WBUv (or WBU German Version as listed on BoxRec) due to their allowing a boxer to defend his world title without current medicals or brain scan. You may remember that we publicly withdrew the sanctioning for an event because of that not that long ago.

You say that about Flintoff, but you've actually licensed people of lesser skill. Suz Member being an example.

Please get your facts right - Suz Member is not licensed by the Malta Boxing Commission, he fought on an MBC sanctioned event on a Tanzania license

Ha ha ha.

You still allowed it so the point stands. The board wouldn't not let someone like that box on their shows. BBBofC 1 MBC 0.

[ashedward]

I went to Haye-Chisora so I wont be a hypocrite and slate the Malta commission but to succeed they need to get some bigger promoters on board and some better fights on there bills,I will be interested to see where they are in two years, as a boxing fan it`s all about the quality of the shows for me,so they will need to improve a huge amount before I would go to one of those shows.

Have to be honest we would love to get some of the bigger promoters on board, but the reality is that this is unlikely to happen until we have fully established and proved ourselves here.

As for equally matched bouts, firstly let me say, they are no worse matched than any average BBBofC show, come on be honest how many times have you looked at a BBBofC fight card and know who is going to win virtually every fight!

We have had some seriously equally matched fights planned (as we encourage 50/50 fights as we want them as much as the fans), however each time we get close to the actual fight night pressure is put on the away fighter to pull out, or their home sanctioning organisation to pull their permission to box (we know where this pressure is coming from but at this point only have verbal confirmation from the boxer's home federation of who has been lobbying to have the fighter pulled and have not been able to obtain written proof!!!!)

Funnily enough though we do have written proof of BBBofC and EBU interference on getting the WBC and IBO Championship fights that we were due to host pulled, unfortunately we don't have written confirmation for the IBF one but had a very interesting chat with their president Darryl Peoples.

Believe it or not one of our licensed boxers lost six very good opponents for both her first fights with us due to 'outside' interference (this is very well documented on most boxing sites). It got so bad that the promoter would make an agreement with his second choice opponent and list that on BoxRec knowing they would be pressured to pull out so he could then slip the first choice in at late notice!

We have never encouraged or agreed on any poorly matched bout, just that we couldn't keep the good match-ups due to outside interference and as such sometimes the match-ups are not as good as the ones that we would have preferred and should have had.

Mind you, even those bouts where 'alternative' opponents were bought in, some have been absolutely fantastic and can honestly say I doubt the original bouts would have been as good.

We are now getting to the position where this will not happen as often, as besides getting more and more of the European federations to allow their boxers to fight on our UK events, even though they still receive pressure from the 'outside source(s)' but there will be more than enough UK based boxers licensed by us to guarantee that we will have more evenly matched bouts in the future.

It sounds as if you`re trying to make some good fights and are having opposition,also for sure allot of BBBoC shows are poor and I would never go to those shows only family members and friends of the boxers would.It will take time for your organization to become established and I will keep an open mind to the shows you put on.

[bripez]

It sounds as if you`re trying to make some good fights and are having opposition,also for sure allot of BBBoC shows are poor and I would never go to those shows only family members and friends of the boxers would.It will take time for your organization to become established and I will keep an open mind to the shows you put on.

This is also what I think.

It seems to me that the big boys (promoters) dictate to the board - who do as they are told - and they in turn dictate to the little boys.

The business model seems to be to get the home boxer to sell a minimum amount of tickets to friends and family and in return they will be matched accordingly against a boxer who knows the script.

You follow this format until the friends and family get fed up with these knock over jobs, at which point the boxer finds work drying up as they are not selling the required number of tickets, or they are effectively fed to a prospect with one of the top promoters (as their records look disproportionately good to the unsuspecting public).

The figures show that the average pro has less than 10 fights before they retire.

Something needs to change - I can look down the domestic schedule on this site and will be able to pick the winner in over 90% of the fights.

If a new outfit such as Malta results in boxers getting more fights, fighting more regularly, and more evenly matched fights then for me it can only be a good thing.