A BAN on hosting amateur boxing bouts in the council’s buildings will continue – despite the move being called “absolutely discriminatory.”

The ban by Worcester City Council was brought in after the death of 26-year-old Dominic Chapman almost 12 months ago who collapsed in the ring at an Ultra White Collar Boxing event at Tramps nightclub in Angel Place on April 9 last year and later died in hospital.

After his death, the council opted to temporarily ban white-collar events not affiliated with amateur boxing’s governing body England Boxing in its own buildings such as the Guildhall and Perdiswell Leisure Centre, in Bilford Road, until an inquest was held.

The move was criticised by the council’s Tory leader Chris Mitchell who said the ban was unnecessarily impeding the handful of the city’s amateur clubs from running organised events.

Cllr Chris Mitchell, said the council “did not have the expertise” to enforce a ban and its insistence on relying solely on affiliation with national governing body England Boxing as a measure of whether an event should go ahead was “absolutely discriminatory.”

He said: “I’m happy to cancel Ultra White Collar Boxing in our facilities, forever to be perfectly honest but I’m not happy to cancel organised boxing establishments and recognised boxing clubs from holding events,” he said.

Cllr Mitchell said the city’s amateur clubs were experienced – and would not mismatch competitors by weight, age or ability like the “spurious” UWCB – and “it would only take 10 minutes” for the council to look at events individually before making a decision on whether they could go ahead.

“[With the ban] that’s four gyms in this city that cannot put on events at our facilities. We’ve only got five, and only one club that is affiliated with England Boxing.”

Cllr Mitchell’s suggestion to reword the council’s plan to allow the city’s amateur clubs to hold events in its buildings was nevertheless thrown out when the committee voted narrowly against the amendment by seven votes to six.

Despite the plea from the council leader, the committee eventually voted in favour of continuing the ban until at least after the inquest into Mr Chapman’s death which is expected to start in Stourport on December 4.

Boxing coach Jonathan Shaw, who runs DP Boxing in Sherriff Street, told councillors at the meeting that continuing the ban and ‘indicating boxing bouts and events such as his were not worthy’ would be a “sad day for boxing and for Worcester.”

He said: “Safety comes first, second and third in the list of priorities in our organisation… we cannot be bracketed in the same way as other organisations, who I will agree have gone a long way in damaging the reputation of boxing, but we are not them.

“The shows we have provided … have a long-lasting and positive effect on everyone involved.”