'Threat to life' sees boxing event moved
West Midlands teenagers have been relocated to another venue to compete in the England Junior Championships after police were warned of "a threat to life."
Finals weekend in the national tournament was due to take place at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth on Saturday and Sunday,
The two-day event would have consisted of a semi-final and a final 24 hours later but governing body England Boxing were, firstly, told to cancel the tournament in its entirety.
Three statements from England Boxing relayed the news to fighters, coaches and club members, on what promised to be a dark period for the unpaid arm of the sport.
The first statement read: "The police were clear that if the remaining Junior events were not cancelled, they themselves would seek a court order to close the events.
"They were clear that not to cancel the events would jeopardise the safety of everyone involved - potentially to a life threatening degree.
"Intelligence has confirmed that a considerable threat to this event remains at the present time. Ultimately, the safety of our members is our absolute priority."
England Boxing then appeared to have struck a compromise, which would allow the Midlands to take on their Northern counterparts for a place in the final.
That has been arranged at the Havercroft Sports and Youth Centre in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on Sunday from 12pm. It's over 200 miles away from the Portsmouth site.
Walsall Wood's Hamzah Ahmed and James Mongan, from Priory Park in Dudley, are still involved and have been told to be ready to box this weekend.
Paige Goodyear, also of Dudley, and Stafford's Phoebe Hodson are contenders in the female side of the competition, too.
Shropshire fighters Bradley Thompson, Raheem Mohammed, Bridie O'Keefe, Simran Kaur and Kara Murray, all from the Telford area, are also Midlanders.
Two divisions compromise the Juniors separated by age, one encompassing 2000-2001 born entrants and another solely for 2001. No boxer involved would be any older than 16.
The second statement read: "We realise that the solution is far from ideal. We know our members have invested considerable time and expense to compete in Portsmouth.
"We are making every effort to ensure that the competition reaches its final stages and we are able to eventually crown champions in both the north and the south."
Under the new plan, the other side of the semis will pit London against either the Home or Western Counties, who haven't even completed their quarter-finals.
Portsmouth falls under the Home Counties, whose officials have offered to stage the round either behind-closed-doors or on a military base.
Should an agreement not be reached with the police, it's possible the Counties will be banished from the line-up with London getting byes to the final.
A third statement read: "First of all, a reminder. All the events which have been cancelled have been cancelled by the police, not England Boxing.
"When we discussed holding the championships in any case, it was made clear that the police would go to court to stop us doing so.
"Literally hundreds of calls have been made to all manner of institutions by England Boxing (the police, military and others), in order to try and find a safe and secure location to stage the event.
"What do we know about what lies behind the police actions? The truthful answer is very little, because the police have told us virtually nothing beyond the fact that it includes a threat to life.
"What very little has been communicated to us is - we are told - highly confidential and restricted and to divulge it would not only be potentially illegal, it might also put people at risk.
"So, as much as we would like to know more, we know very little and what little we know is highly confidential.
"We also want you to know that England Boxing's chairman has written to Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, head of the police, to urgently seek a meeting.
"The purpose of the meeting is to find out more information that we can communicate to you, our members, and secondly to seek a joint strategy to ensure that this never happens again.
"The fact that young boxers have not been able to box is a tragedy. The fact that there has been a financial loss to clubs and to families is a tragedy.
"The fact that anyone might want to endanger life at a boxing event is beyond our understanding and, if it's true, it's disgraceful."
