EDMONTON – The City of Edmonton says it wants a third party to conduct an independent review into the death of a boxer late last week.
Thirty-four-year-old Tim Hague died after being knocked out in a bout against former CFL player Adam Braidwood.
The city says its Combative Sports Commission will perform a routine internal investigation, but spokesman Rob Smyth says they want to take it further and have a separate, external review.
Hague was a former mixed martial arts fighter who most recently had been working as a Grade 4 teacher at an Edmonton school.
His death comes less than a month after boxer David Whittom went into a coma with bleeding on the brain after a knockout loss in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The two cases have raised calls for improvements in rules to ensure the safety of fighters in boxing and mixed martial arts.
Veteran boxing trainer Stephan Larouche says fighters often have to be protected from themselves.
He says they won’t stop even if they are losing badly, and they want to continue their careers even if they’ve lost a few bouts in a row.
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