The president of EOTTM, Camille Estephan, believes that the boxing and other combat sports are the victims of an injustice that could sound the death knell of this industry in Québec.
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July 8, 2020 18h12
Updated at 20h49
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The worst crisis in the history of boxing in quebec, according to Estephan
Ian Bussières
The Sun
The promoter montrealer Camille Estephan of Eye Of The Tiger Management (EOTTM) does not mince his words: he believes that boxing in quebec is currently undergoing the worst crisis in its history because the government of Québec plans to maintain the ban on combat sports until a vaccine or a treatment against the COVID-19 is discovered.
“We don’t know if it will take one year, two years, two and a half years… The fact that it prevents such as it to hold galas to be closed, it could kill outright the industry. It is as if it was said that we ban boxing!”, he said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Sun.
“For the development of young people, this decision would be unfair and inconsistent. I think there’s a bias against our sport. How two guys and a referee in a boxing ring might be more at risk than 22 players of soccer or football on the same field? We filed a protocol of recovery is very strict, inspired by what is being done by organizations such as Top Rank and the UFC in the United States and the government commended us for this initiative. Yet, over a month later, we’re still stopping!”, he laments.
Estephan request immediately the establishment of a working committee involving the department of public health, the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux and representatives from the boxing world to discuss issues and possible solutions. “The contact is established since a long time, but they do not want to sit with us. But, we will continue to push for the 680,000 people in Quebec city who like boxing”, he says, citing figures from the social network Facebook.
Concerns
Coach Francis Duguay from Quebec, shares the concerns of Camille Estephan and pushed a cry from the heart on social networks Wednesday, deploring the impact of the shutdown activities for young people who want to go to the olympic Games or attempt a professional career.
“You don’t win a lot of money in boxing and was not entitled to the benefit of canadian emergency. I think guys like Lexson Mathieu, had to fight for a belt NABF July 25, but the gala will not be held because it has not had the green light. I deplore the improvisation that one feels on the side of public health,” said Duguay in the Sun.
“We were the first sport confined, and, yet, in our athletes, there was no first wave. You need a plan of attack for presenting galas in a closed circuit where all the participants are in the same hotel for a week and are tested. It is my job and I have to practise my trade to earn my living,” says the one who supports 100% the game plan of Camille Estephan.
Mathieu without a word
As for the boxer Lexson Mathieu, there was a feeling in the tone of his voice, a certain discouragement with the current situation. “I am disappointed that this is happening and I really don’t know what to say. I am without word,” he told the Sun. “It is a complete program that is braked. I had an opportunity and the government killed her. This is my career, my younger brother and other boxers amateur who is in the game,” he continued.
“If it continues like this, I don’t know what I’ll do. Currently, I live from day to day,” concluded the one who had defeated Rolando Paredes at the Bell Centre in December to win the junior title NABF in super-ways.
