▪️”The coach and boxer can intentionally hide the history of injury and restriction by handing a new record book without documentation. The attachment of the old record book will flag what should have been a medical disqualification,” says the Lesotho doctor
August 12, 2026
The participation of boxers in tournaments organised by different organisations raises concern that it’s unlikely they will welcome boxers injured outside their own competition.
This should not be a problem if the same boxer uses the same record book for boxing, and all injuries are well documented, including those that require restrictions.
Where the old record book gets finished, it should not be discarded, it should be attached to the new one to allow for picking up injured boxers from the same or different organisation’s competitions.
This calls for a more vigilant evaluation of the record book, beyond the usual “Fit to Box” certificate.
It should always be borne in mind that both the coach and boxer can intentionally hide the history of injury and restriction by handing a new record book without documentation. The attachment of the old record book will flag what should have been a medical disqualification.
Boxers stand to lose if they don’t adhere to medical reporting in all events, whether they are National, Zonal, Continental, International or Major Games Events. Sports Departments of both WB and IBA should keep injury database to help protect such boxers from potential abuse.
In the AIBA era, such database information included injured boxers with or without restrictions. It was very useful to let track of such boxers.
Presently, whenever there is an upcoming event, participating NFs must submit the full names and weight categories of their prospective competing boxers. This information must be entered in the Pre-competition database before Sports Entry Check exercise to flag those with restrictions, and warn the hosting organisation not to allow them until they have been medically cleared to return to boxing.
Thus, it will require adoption of mandatory attachment of completed old record books to the new record books to facilitate valid Sport Entry Check. Sports Departments must take documentation and analysis of the medical jury report very high.
Boxers’ safety is not only for them alone, now and into the future. It goes a long way to raise the bar for the reputation of the sport code of boxing.
Annual meetings of the Medical Committee/Commission is critical for reviewing scientific developments and lessons learned from preceding years of activity. This deepens medical management of injured boxers while it improves the pro-safety agenda for boxers…………………………..
The author of this story, Dr. MAKHETHA EMMANUEL MOSOCHO is an experienced ringside doctor from the African Kingdom of Lesotho who has served not only as Chair of Medical Jury in various continental boxing championships, but also as part of ringside doctors for former AIBA and IBA Championships, as well past Olympic Qualifiers, and was a member of the Former AIBA Medical Commission and current IBA Medical Committee. He is the chair of the African Zone 4 Medical Commission.
