Following a troubling slate of bouts in New York, a repeat request to stage a “Sparring Club” show in Las Vegas on Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight week is confronting a steep climb to win approval from the Nevada Athletic Commission.
In July, “Sparring Club” matched club fighters and professionals impromptu in Brooklyn with two spots on the Alvarez-Crawford card at stake. This time, Nevada officials have stated such an event requires adherence with a strenuous safety protocol in order to take place.
According to Nevada regulations, boxers fighting for incentives require licensing, medical screening, weigh-ins and the supervision of a referee.
“We treat it just like every [professional] fight,” one Nevada official told BoxingScene Thursday. “I know [Sparring Club organizers] still want to talk about it, but our regulations are likely discouraging to them. We’re not having what happened in New York.
“It’s going to be very hard to put on, and I can assure you, our referees would stop any fight before it gets close to getting out of hand.”
The Brooklyn event, detailed in a recent story by The Guardian’s Thomas Hauser, was staged by BoxRaw in partnership with Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh’s Ring magazine, which ran a promo article for the event.
Social media posts invited all comers, and referees were not used in the bouts, some of which ended in alarming knockouts.
Alalshikh and his Ring CEO Rick Reeno attended the New York event that The Ring streamed live, and the original request in Nevada was for a likely similar September 12 show.
But Nevada officials have reviewed video footage of the New York event and have read Hauser’s story. Nevada said no to the original proposal, and state officials were asked if more discussion or negotiation was possible to win approval.
“These are fights, not sparring, and they would require all of our safety protocols to be in place,” a Nevada regulator said.
