President of the St. Lucia Boxing Association, David “Shakes” Christopher has condemned the disqualification/walkover decision against Guyanese Keevin Allicock which has robbed the fighter of the opportunity of qualifying for the upcoming Pan Am Games and is calling for the official to be debarred from future games.
Allicock was prevented from participating in his quarter-final bout of the 2019 America Boxing Confederation (AMBC) Pan Am Qualifiers in Nicaragua, on Monday.
Allicock, a bantamweight 56 kg fighter, was expected to enter the squared circle against Dominican Republic’s Alexy de la Cruz. However, he was declared improperly attired, sent back to the dressing room for a change of outfit and promptly disqualified upon his return to the ring by the fight supervisor.
According to Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle, the fight supervisor deemed Allicock’s vest colour inappropriate for the competition.
Ninvalle explained that Allicock was expected to fight out of the red corner and was fitted with a black and red vest.
It is understood that the pugilist was cleared to fight after being inspected by the International Technical Officer (ITO) and after entering the ring, the referee saw nothing wrong with his attire.
However, Ninvalle stated that it was just before the fight the supervisor intervened and gave Allicock one minute to leave the ring, go to the dressing room, change and return “properly attired.”
It was then that he was deemed to have lost via walkover and a protest was immediately filed.
The GBA President told Stabroek Sport that the supervisor remained steadfast and unflinching with his decision despite the new rules of AIBA 48.3.4 which states that a boxer can compete in his national colours of the flag.
“The GBA finds the ruling of the supervisor unjust, unreasonable, unsportsmanlike, excessive, and unwarranted and that which goes against the grain of what the new AIBA is promoting,” Ninvalle stated.
Christopher said that the situation showed a blatant one-sidedness since Allicock was cleared by the ITO desk before entering the fight arena.
He said the referee too was okay with Allicock’s attire.
Added to that Christopher said the fight supervisor only gave Allicock 60 seconds as opposed to two minutes as stipulated by the rules governing the contest.
According to Christopher, who is at the Qualifiers, the following bout had a similar situation and the boxer was allowed to change in ring.
Christopher said the decision which went against Allicoick, was an embarrassment to the sport, the country and Caribbean and he is calling for the fight supervisor to be barred from officiating again at this level.
