Dear All

I know it’s only just two weeks since the last newsletter, however a serious issue has been highlighted and we believe it is vital that we share the information with all Commissions and Championship Organisations as quickly as possible.

In the last newsletter we sent our condolences to the family and friends of Maxim Dadashev and Hugo Santillan who both succumbed to the injuries sustained in their fights last month.

Shortly after we were informed that Hugo Santillan was actually on a 45 Day suspension when he fought. We have screen shots of the Suspension as listed on Boxrec and Fight Fax also verified that they too had been informed of the Suspension by the German BDB commission.

Simon Green, editor of Go-Boxing.net had written to WBC President Mauricio Sulaimán, as well as to Thomas Putz from the BDB and the Federacion Argentina de Box as they were the first media organisation to highlight and research this matter – http://go-boxing.net/2019/07/26/hugo-alfredo-santillan-becomes-second-boxer-to-die-from-injuries-suffered-in-the-ring-this-week-questions-need-to-be-asked-as-santillan-was-on-a-suspension-until-30th-july/

To date Mr Sulaimán is the only person to reply to Mr Green’s e.mails – see the important sections from Mr Sulaimán’s reply below;

“Thank you for reaching out to the WBC. I have been in a 2 week vacation with limited contact but have been looking into this very delicate and unfortunate situation.

The Argentinian boxing federation which approved the fight responded to our communication stating that they rely on their rules and protocols and had the medical clearance as per their jurisdiction.

They claim that they were never notified by the German federation of the suspension of the Argentinian boxer and that they do not check Boxrec as a procedure in their jurisdiction.

The wbc Latino championship chairman relied on the Argentinian approval and at this moment I am traveling to Phoenix where I will meet Boxrec to understand which communications took place”

Having also looked further into this matter and it appears that there was a clear Duty of Care failure in this particular case, as for which parties and/or persons failed in their duties is not one hundred percent clear at the moment.

However saying that, it should be noted that it is the responsibility of not just the hosting Commission, but also the Championship Organisation to ensure the Health & Safety of the competitors and as such we call on all Commissions and Championship Organisations to check ALL SUSPENSION LISTS, this includes those of any Commission that sanctioned a contest that the boxer in question had previously competed in, regional Associations such as the European Boxing Union (EBU) as well as Pro Boxing Records (Fight Fax) and Boxrec. 

IF IN DOUBT PLEASE DO NOT TAKE CHANCES PLEASE CONTACT THE COMMISSION THAT SUPERVISED THE BOXER’S PREVIOUS CONTEST TO CHECK IF ANY SUSPENSION WAS ISSUED.

We also reach out to Boxrec to update their system so that any suspension is publicly displayed, not just have it listed and viewable by commissions when they sign in to the commission area. 

We also request that any boxer suspended is automatically provided with a suspension letter/medical form before being allowed to leave the venue. We fully understand that many commissions already do this, however we are aware that to the same degree many don’t and as such the APBC have created a standardised letter, which is attached to this e.mail or download at https://apbcboxing.com/?page_id=842 – Whilst currently this document is available in English only,  however we will also create versions in other languages as quickly as possible and have them available for download on the APBC website – www.apbcboxing.com

The APBC Shall also add a suspension page to the website and as such request notification of any suspensions initiated by APBC member commissions.

We also request that APBC Members ensure they report any suspensions to an overseas boxer’ licensing commission within seven days and also ensure that any Championship Organisation whose titles may have been fought for are also informed.

HEALTH & SAFETY MODULES

In July’s Newsletter we had stated that the APBC shall be creating specific health & safety modules, each module targeted at specific roles within the sport – Officials, Ringside Medical Teams, Coaches, Promoters and of course the Boxers themselves. These Modules are the APBC’s #1 priority and hopefully the first of these will be ready for distribution within the coming weeks.

NEW MEMBERS

Please welcome the Professional Boxing Commission of New Zealand and the Federación Deportiva Nacional De Boxe (Chile) who are the latest commissions to join the APBC.

OCEANA REGIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR

Please welcome Mr Sara Bulutani Mataitawakilai from the Boxing Commission of Fiji, who has been appointed Chairman of the APBC Oceana Region Committee.

RING OFFICIALS TRAINING

The latest APBC Ring Officials (Referee/Judge) Courses took place over the weekend of July 28th in the United Kingdom, as such please join us in congratulating Uganda Professional Boxing Commissions’ Secretary General Mr Mark Jackson Mugwanya as well as British Referees/Judges Shaun White, Jonny Guest, Tony Fithon, Zakaria Aouni and Steve Ward who all successfully completed the courses.

UNIVERSAL RANKING SYSTEM

As highlighted in the July newsletter, please ensure that all licensed boxers are registered with BoxRanking.com