Boxing spectacle set for January

By Wilfred Sultana

This meeting is set for Friday 27^th January and will be staged at the Sky Club in Paceville. The event is being organised by the EBF in collaboration with local promoter Paul Borg.   Borg is an official European Boxing Federation licensed promoter and manager.

The main bout of the evening will be between Maltese heavyweight Billy Corito and UK Ian Toby, an ex-professional with over 52 professional fights to his credit.

Billy Corito, known as 'the hit man', is now also on the EBF books and ranks in the 8^th place of the EBF heavyweight Top 10 Ranking.  

The European Boxing Federation, established in 2005, is Great Britain's and Europe's largest Semi-professional and white collar boxing authority. The Federation hosts and officiates over 100 shows per year and currently have over 1100 registered boxers across Great Britain and Europe at varied levels of skill (white collar, Novice, Intermediate, and Semi-pro).

Although not related to the Malta activity it is worth explaining the white collars meaning.  White Collar boxers are businesspeople, attorneys, accountants, and other buttoned-down types who take up boxing to stay in shape and let off steam.  For a number of years this category of boxing was banned as it was not regulated by any recognized authority and was considered too dangerous. Now it is back and authorities like the EBF regulate the sport by making sure that the people stepping into the ring are in good-enough shape to do it and not get hurt. In fact it is a requisite condition for white-collar boxers to provide a medical certificate confirming their health fitness prior to being allowed to participate.

Tickets selling at €25 (VIP) and €15 will be available from the London Butcher, Sir Frederick C. Ponsonby Street Gzira as from Monday 19^th December.