A call for change in the boxing boards will only be directed from the Minister for Sports or other respective sports foundations within the country and not from Mr. Elvin Wafewa,
PNG’s professional boxing gymnasium president. That’s the statement from the Chairman of the PNG Professional Boxing Control Board, Mr Bernard Fong when making a public response to an article that was published in one of the daily newspapers on the 9th of January this year.
Mr Fong made this respond when President for PNG professional boxing gymnasium Mr. Wafewa made a call in an article in one of the daily’s for a change in the boxing board.
Mr. Elvin claimed that the boxing board has not been fulfilling their obligations on promoting boxing in the country and he called on the sports minister to appoint new board members to develop the sporting code to the highest level in PNG.
However, Mr Fong stated that a call for change in the boxing board will only be directed from the Minister for Sports or other respective sports foundations within the country and the board only acts as a regulator for boxing.
“The control board is not a promotor of professional boxing, they are regulators. Promotors apply for license and when approved, they do all the promoting,” said Mr Fong.
“And now there’s a call for change, but question is, has the board done something bad that needs change? “asked Mr Fong.
Mr. Fong claimed that this is the first time in history of someone being negative towards the board and he is pretty sure about the possible reasons behind the call to change the board statement made by Mr Elvin’s.
“In one way he’s trying his best, in another way he’s not doing the right thing. At the end of the day you got to do the right thing, there is no such thing as halfway either you comply or don’t comply”, he said.
Fong urges the boxing president to formally come out clear and follow appropriate procedures to call for change in the boxing board.
Currently the Oceania Fight Promotions (OFP) is doing a great job in screening every applicant’s information before they participate in the sport.
This is to avoid any unnecessary future incidents like the death of an amateur fighter a year ago due to medical constraints.
Mr Fong is calling for more participation in boxing, “I’d like people to rally behind boxing as I know there’s a lot of support nationwide and I just want them to come together, and hopefully through the media they can be informed of what is happening”.
We wish to give out as much information as we can about boxing and the upcoming events, for instance the upcoming fight is confirmed and all parties have agreed to this competition.”
He highlighted one of the upcoming fight that all parties have agreed to take part in the competition is the fight in Australia that will be happening in June this year and he is extending the invitation to local fighters to join stating that all costs will be covered by the Australian Promotor.
“We need more tournaments and people with the heart of boxing and those that are organizing fights to do the right thing and and raise our standards, only through raising standards you will get more sponsors and get better fighters”.