The 12-year-old Carlow girl at the centre of a boxing debacle says she was devastated not to be allowed fight for her second national title on Friday.
Chloe Black from Tullow Boxing Club had travelled to the National Stadium and had completed the weigh-in, only to be told right before the fight that she was disqualified because she also takes part in Muay Thai.
The club says they were not informed of the rule that prohibits anyone who participates in another contact sport from competing in boxing.
It seems a complaint was made on Thursday by someone about Chloe’s involvement in Muay Thai.
The club took to Facebook on Friday night to vent their frustration.
Speaking to KCLR, Chloe says it was heartbreaking:
“I’m absolutely sickened. It’s ridiculous that they [the person who complained] are taking it out on a 12-year-old girl just because of jealousy.
“That’s like me saying, ‘You play basketball – you’re not allowed to play football if you’re playing basketball’.
“Just because you’re good at one sport doesn’t mean you’re going to be good at another.
“I’m finished with boxing. I’ve lost so much respect for the sport, knowing that I trained so hard, I followed all the rules. And the one rule that I was not aware of, they wouldn’t let it pass.”
Chloe continued to say she wants to thank everyone who has supported her, but her dream of being the next Katie Taylor is now over.
Her coach in Tullow, Anthony Abbey said he’s just as upset:
“I came home last night [Friday] and I was so upset and I’m still not right today. We can’t get over it. I’ll probably never get over it and, honest to God, I’m in two minds at the moment as to whether I want to stay in the boxing game at the moment. I don’t know.”
KCLR has contacted the Irish Amateur Boxing Association for comment on the matter.
You can listen back to the full story on KCLR’s Saturday Scoreline here:
