Calls for amateur boxing to be banned have rung out due to a heartbroken parent grieving his son’s death in a white-collar boxing match.
Alastair Peck died from fatal head injuries sustained in his one and only debut boxing match in Harrogate back in March of 2017. Since then, an inquest ruled the following year. Peck was raising money for a charity supporting Cancer Research in memory of his three-year-old niece Lauren Morgan, who previously passed away from kidney cancer in 2008.
The 44-year-old was also raising money for his mother Pam Cripps who was bravely battling breast cancer and died aged 74 in 2019. The inquest heard Alastair, who had never boxed before, was participating in an organised fight by Ultra White-Collar Boxing, also known as UWCB.
During the match, the referee halted the bout minutes into the third round after Alastair dropped to the canvas. Experts with links to the UWCB spoke out and said there were no heavy blows endured within the bout which may have caused Alastar to hit the canvas.
His opponent, Carlo Francisco Sandoval, told inquest a different story saying he felt he had landed numerous blows on Alastair which may have led to him hitting the canvas. After the bout Alastair quote on quote told his girlfriend, “one of the punches shook his brain like a cartoon”.
Later that night, Alastair met up with his friends to celebrate the event. A day later he was seen vomiting numerous times after the Saturday night fight. Two days after the fight Alastair’s dad Richard found his son dead on their bathroom floor to his disbelief. Alastair’s dad Richard has now called for white collar boxing events to be banned with him saying “I believe white collar boxing bouts should be stopped”.
Professional welterweight British champion Dom Hunt expressed his opinions on the amateur boxing scene, “I can’t say too much on the subject due to my connections in boxing, but I will say that it has changed a lot since I was a young lad, I understand the reasons to why many people want the sport banned but ultimately I’m not sure it ever will”.
Many people including Richard, hope that more professional boxers will speak out on the topic to hopefully put a stop to amateur boxing.
-James Gothard