By Simon Hirst: When David Haye against Dereck Chisora was announced, there was a huge hype that was created due to the brawl they had in Munich. Haye had no license from the BBBoC so could not be punished, but it seemed unlikely he would be granted a license. Chisora on the other hand had his license revoked, but was not banned so was free to apply elsewhere for his license.

I won’t bore on about what has happened too much, but discuss as who is the right. Now, clearly there are two sides to this – those who agree with the bout and those who don’t agree to the bout. Those who agree include the fighters themselves and the LBF. Those who disagree are WBC and BBBoC.

When this all started in February, the general feeling was it was a disgrace. This is one thing we can all agree on. This is where opinion divides. There are those who feel they should never be allowed to step foot in a ring again and they are a disgrace to boxing. This is perhaps a fair point, however, brawls do happen in media events and whilst they are most unfortunate, this one was allowed to escalate due to poor security and preparation. Had Tyson and Lewis not been separated in their infamous scuffle, I have no doubts an ugly fight would have broken out. Would we be branding them in the same way we are branding Chisora and Haye? Possibly not. This is not to excuse the actions- Chisora was an embarrassment all weekend except where it mattered in the ring.

So, given the situation, should they be allowed to fight. Well, I believe personally they should, but I think a compromise should have been made to those who believe they shouldn’t. The way they have gone about this is to sell tickets, make it appear to be real big beef between the two which I’m sure it is. However, what message is this sending? All the disrespectful behaviour builds a fight, but doesn’t give the right impression. Given the continued bad nature of this fight, I can certainly see why those who disagree with it don’t want it to happen.

However, on the other side, I think the BBBoC and WBC should have just turned a blind eye. Would it have shown them to be weak? Maybe. But the route of threatening to ban any license holder involved has just added publicity to this event and reminds me of telling a child not to do something – it just makes the child more determined to do it. The BBBoC is not planning the event, although it is happening on their turf, so to speak. If the BBBoC didn’t want Chisora being licensed elsewhere, then they would have issued a ban. It seems more the point of where the fight is taking place as opposed to the actual fight taking place, which suggests the BBBoC are only interested in making sure the fight does not happen in Britain rather than making sure the fight does not happen at all.

Then, we have the point that the majority of casual sport fans, not necessarily boxing fans, want the fight to happen, both here and Germany apparently. This shouldn’t really matter, but if there is a demand for it…

The way I would have advertised this is have them both apologise, but admit they don’t like each other and suggest that a boxing ring will be the place they will settle their difference and not before then. I would also have them donate a percentage of what they earn to charity for good measure too. This shows a side of that they admit they were in the wrong, but also sends a good message to young kids of settling differences under boxing rules, which may encourage kids who have tempers or need some guidance to take up boxing. I would also have them doing a tour of local gyms for young kids telling them what they did was wrong and helping out. I think this approach may have had the BBBoC turn a blind eye to this event, or they may even of sanctioned it.

So who really is in the wrong is hard to say because mistakes have been made on both sides. The way the fight has been advertised with the press conferences has shown no sign of remorse, whilst the BBBoC and WBC being against it has simply added a new angle to the attention and hype that the media are lapping up. Simple fact is BBBoC should have banned Chisora if they did not want him fighting again. By not banning him, they left the door open for this fight and should shoulder most the blame. Sure, the fight bends the rules, but this was always a possibility that should never have been overlooked by BBBoC officials.

To conclude, BBBoC are mainly to blame, but the fighter’s behaviour have not endeared themselves to the general public. I will watch with a keen eye, perhaps most keenly after the bell to see whether the beef ends there. If not, it may come back to bite the BBBoC firmly on the butt for not banning Chisora.