Kishen Narsi went to Don Bosco, Matunga and Barnes Boarding School, Deolali, where he learnt boxing as one of two compulsory sports. He then joined St Xaviers’ College, Bombay, and competed in inter-collegiate and all-India university meets, becoming a runner-up and champion before meeting the late Aspy Adajania and stepping into the referee-judge aspect of the sport. Soon to turn 76, Narsi has been on the referee and jury side of boxing since the 1978 Asian Games at Bangkok. Presently, he is chairman of the AIBA ad hoc committee which oversees the sport in India. In the absence of a credible National federation, the ad hoc and coordination committees have helped boxers take part in international meets. Narsi has played cricket, hockey, rugby, football, badminton and boxing, and that is what has kept him fit as a fiddle. Now, he is a member of the AIBA Technical & Rules Commission.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has allowed a headguard-free Elite men’s boxing competition at the Rio Olympics. Narsi, who was in Manchester recently for the AIBA meetings, tells us why the headguard rule was introduced at Los Angeles 1984, and removed after London 2012 for men.
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Boxers will compete at the Rio Olympics without headguards after 32 years…
It was always going to be that way. All the championships since 2013 have been fought without headguards. This is as far as Elite men are concerned. The Elite women and youth still compete with headguards. It was removed after a thorough medical test done in US and Europe. It was found that there was more damage with the headguard on, especially by way of concussions, when compared to cuts. Even after the removal of headguards, a lot of research was done by AIBA’s medical team and it was found that concussions caused more damage than cuts.
The style of boxing had veered away from stand-up boxing; because the two boxers competed with headguards, they were reluctant to stand up, box and take a lot of punishment. There was a tendency to come down. Even if the heads hit or touched each other, the headguard protected them. So when the headguard was removed, the tendency among the boxers was still the same; it’s very difficult to change the boxing style in the age group of 24-26.
AIBA has introduced the HeadsUp programme. Why?
With the number of cuts going up, the AIBA has introduced a programme called ‘HeadsUp’, which is based on four pillars — health, sustainability, education and sports — while also teaching kids the right style to box. The referee-judges have been trained to ensure that if any boxer gets close to the rival’s head, they will immediately say “heads up, heads up” with the aim of segregating the two.
There are cuts suffered and that’s why the HeadsUp programme has come into place. It’s difficult to make changes overnight. Why did helmets come in cricket? Because of head injuries; this perhaps started with Nari Contractor in the West Indies. At every tournament, there is a professional ‘cutman’ whose job is to heal cuts, if any. Then, with 3M, we have developed a medicine called Cavilon, which can close up cuts very quickly. The coach and the second are allowed to apply the medicine between rounds, and in case there is a cut, the cutman gets 30 seconds to heal it up.
And, to make the HeadsUp programme stronger, if a boxer intentionally head-butts, he gets a warning and a two-point deduction as against a normal one point deduction. If the head-butt is accidental, the bout is scored up to that point of the round. So, there are a lot of precautions to be taken to ensure that the cuts are reduced considerably. But the headguard was removed to prevent concussion. If a batsman is wearing a helmet, he feels that facing a bouncer is not a problem because he is protected. Similarly, with the headguard on, the tendency is to punch the face, rather than hit the body, which is also part of the target area.
There have been incidents of death after the headguard rule was removed…
That’s not because of any injury in the ring. It may be because the boxer had been going through a little bit of a medical issue before. But medical tests are done before a boxer comes for a tournament. There is a very stringent medical examination format he has to follow. The National federation has to send the entire medical report of the boxer for every tournament. They are medically checked thoroughly on the first day of the tournament; then on all days when the boxer has a fight. I had a case in Morocco when the doctor felt that the boxer did not have vision in one eye. He wanted to box. He was a super heavyweight and got angry when he was told that he cannot box. When we told what the problem was, the coach and manager accepted our decision. He has not boxed since 2011, a year before the London Olympics. He is a coach now.
Have skills improved after the removal of headguards?
The scoring system has changed. Earlier, it (points) was given on the number of punches and 80 per cent of the punches were on the face. That’s one area you can see the landing of the punch. The punch on the body is always a close thing and it all depends on the vision the judge. The individual scoring system was changed before the London Olympics. A judge now decides the bout on a 10+ system, meaning he has to give the winner 10 and in correlation with the level of bout, he gives 10.9, 10.8 and so on.
Headguards were introduced at Los Angeles 1984…
Prior to LA, boxing came under a lot of criticism with regard to (a) bad decisions, and (b) a lot of injuries. There were also other reasons for boxing to come under the threat of being suspended from the Olympics. And one reason was that in the USA, there was a very strong lobby, talking in terms of banning boxing. At that point of time, boxing was, what we called, the only technical body contact sport in the Olympics; two people who went to the ring to hurt each other. There was a lot of research done on the concussion aspect of the sport, and then we had Cassius Clay (Mohammad Ali) who was going in a particular way (Parkinson’s etc.) and that was the reason the lobbyists began to condemn boxing.
And hence with a view to protect boxing as a sport, one of the things that was introduced in 1984 was the headguard. The reasoning then was that boxing was a dangerous sport and the headguard came in to ensure that boxing stayed in the Olympics. The bouts depend on the draw; a Sri Lankan could face a Russian and take a lot of punishment. So, the one way to protect the boxer was to introduce the headguard. Over and above that, even the gloves were changed. There was more padding; instead of 8 oz, it became 10 oz. For heavyweights, 12 oz gloves were introduced. Materials improved to reduce the impact of the punch.
Recently, someone found out through research that red gloves, red vests and red headguards had a higher propensity to take punishment than blue. During the recent meetings in Manchester, there was a proposal to change the colours. Red is associated with danger, blood and aggression. It was not accepted.
In what way could Rio be different?
The quality of punches will be higher. Jab, jab, jab. What will be the quality of the punches? What are your upper cuts on the body, your hooks… different quality of punches have come in now. They (judges) will look at the technique and tactics. They will look at infringements and competitiveness. The overall make-up of pure boxing has become more professional.
The likes of Cuba and USA have dominated Olympic boxing.
Let’s take Cuba. It’s the No. 1 country in the world boxing scene. It has been winning the World Amateur Boxing franchise events, and winning three or four gold medals at almost every Olympics. Because of its social background and fiscal issues, Cuba concentrates only on four or five sports. You can box in any corner; your physical fitness is strong, so put up a ring even in a street and box. Period. Cuba is very strong in volleyball… men and women. It’s good in athletics. You don’t see it in golf, rugby, tennis, badminton and table tennis. Most of them are great money-making sports, but Cuba focuses on sports where infrastructure requirement is bare minimum. People should not forget that boxers are also the highest-paid athletes in the world. Floyd Mayweather... what kind of money did he get last year? He was the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2014 and 2015.
Can India match all this in the world of boxing?
Let’s face it; our system needs to be overhauled.
