IBF President Applauds WBC Medical Congress

By James Blears

International Boxing Federation President Marian Muhammad, says safety in boxing must be the combined aim.

Ms. Muhammad is a visitor at the World Boxing Council's second World Medical Congress in Cancun, Mexico. World Boxing Association President Gilberto Mendoza has also paid the event a flying visit.

Ms. Muhammad explained: "I've come to show this is a concerted effort on the part of all the sanctioning bodies to make sure that we are as safe in this sport   as we can possibly be.

"That's for the participants and for the people who sit around the ringside that administer the sport. Safety in boxing can always be improved. I don't think we are ever going to be one hundred percent as far as injuries and deaths are concerned. But I want to be able to be an integral part of getting as close to one hundred percent as possible."

Marian Muhammad stressed that after a fight it is mandatory for anabolic steroid testing in an IBF Championship, but she agreed that she would be interested in considering standard across the board testing, which could be applied to all major boxing organizations.

But she also added: "The problem isn't with the sanctioning bodies. Basically we do as much as we can as far as the safety of participants is concerned. It's when you get to the local commissions. Some of them don't even have minimum safety standards. So you have to require the promoter to pay for these tests, because the Commissions don't require it."

More than three hundred doctors, many of whom are specialists and world authorities, from more than 80 countries, are participating in the Congress. They're imparting plenty wisdom and medical jargon.

Ms. Muhammad put the lay person's point of view by commenting: "As much as people can garner and take back home with them, makes it all worth while. Valuable things are coming out of this Congress, and we are doing something for our sport."