Robert Brizel Editorial: WBA Champ Hiroto Kyoguchi Has Covid-19, Stop All Bouts Till Pandemic Ends
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Current World Boxing Association Super World Light Flyweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi of Japan and his trainer have both tested positive for Covid-19 Novel Coronavirus, forcing a cancellation of his scheduled November 2020 title defense against Thailand’s Thanongsak Simsri in Osaka, Japan. Both Kyoguchi and Simsri are 14-0. Originally scheduled for May 2019, Kyoguchi versus Simsri would have been the first world title bout held in Japan since the coronavirus pandemic began, but it was not to be.
Former world heavyweight champions Vitali Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin are among those heavyweights who have contracted the coronavirus. Heavyweights Otto Wallin and Travis Kauffman and his dad promoter Marshall Kauffman all had the coronavirus before Wallin stopped Kauffman in the fifth round with an injured shoulder in August 2020, after both boxers recovered from Coviid-19, not a good formula for a major heavyweight bout.
Referee Eddie Cotton, trainer Ali (Harrison) Salaam, boxing gym owner Francisco Mendez, boxing gym owner and coach Hector Rocha, Olympic referee and judge Carmen Williamson, trainer Jimmy Glenn, promoter Ron Ross, former WBA and WBC vice-president Nipper Reade, cutman Nelson Cuevas, former European cruiserweight champion Angelo Rottoli, his mother and brother, and the father of British heavyweight Anthony Yarde, are among boxing’s losses since coronavirus hit. Many friends also have been lost.
The major point of contention this reporter wants to make is this. As the worldwide total of coronavirus infections approaches 49 million, and 1.25 million dead, with close to 10 million coronavirus infections and a quarter of a million people dead in the United States of America, amateur and professional sports currently in progress have to stop. More than likely countries, businesses and economies need to be shut down again as the second wave progresses, with daily new record numbers of infections worldwide. The USA, India, the Russian Federation, Brazil, France, Spain, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Italy, South Africa, Iran, Germany, Chile, Belgium and the Netherlands are among the countries hardest hit with coronavirus infections. It is ridiculous to believe football, baseball, soccer, basketball, boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts can continue inner the circumstances of the pandemic. Indoor and outdoor sports, team sports, and spectator sports must come ot a halt for at least two years until a coronavirus cure is found. Boxing and sports will continue to incur ongoing coronavirus losses. Safety must prevail.
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