Manila protests over post-fight riots in Argentina – Boxing news
The World Boxing Council had already condemned the post-fight riots in Argentina as ‘a shameful act’ but that was not enough. Recently, a diplomatic protest from the Philippines has been filed. Riots took place right after Filipino Johnriel Casimero won
over Argentinean Luis ‘Mosquito’ Lazarte to grab the IBF junior flyweight title, which was vacated by the previous champion. The fight was held in Mar del Plata.
According to a foreign ministry spokesperson, the Philippines has formally filed a diplomatic protest against the scenario on Wednesday.
Argentina’s ambassador to Manila, Raul Hernandez, was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs to clarify his stance.
He said, “Our embassy in Buenos Aires filed a protest on February 13 to the Argentine government over the riot which happened on February 11 which placed the safety and wellbeing of Mr. Casimero and his team at great danger.”
He further added that the embassy in Manila of Argentina has already apologised for the happening and has assured that it will not happen again.
The Filipino boxer Casimero was attacked by fans of Lazarte for winning the bout. This reaction was strongly condemned by the international boxing community and the WBC.
In a press statement, the WBC said, “The WBC rejects what happened and demands immediate action by the local authorities to punish those criminals that have stained boxing and the reputation of such an exemplary and honorable country like Argentina.”
The post-bout riots were shocking to the world especially in Argentina, a country that is known as the boxing paradise. With its history of holding some of the most prominent boxing events in history, Argentina is respectfully counted among boxing celebrating
nations.
However, after this incident, image of Argentina has been distorted and many boxers have come up saying that it is no more safe to fight in the country. Responding to such notions, the WBC has said that Argentina should not be targeted for the incident instead
it was the lapse of security that made this happen. The WBC further went on to say that such incidents can happen anywhere in the world if adequate security is not present.
Tags: