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Aussie Victoria police gain power to banish criminal elements from boxing, cage fighting

Xinhua, July 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's Victoria police will been granted new powers to ban criminal figures from Victoria's boxing and cage fighting industries.

Premier Dan Andrews lifted Victoria's prohibition of cage fighting in March, fulfilling the government's controversial pre- election promise to allow the sport to be contested in Victoria for the first time since 2008.

The government is working on a piece of legislation that would give the chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, the authority to restrict who is able to work in combat sports.

Presently, individuals with known criminal associations can conduct business in the industry. There is no law to prohibit the Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board from having such people work in these sports.

Acting sports minister Jenny Mikakos on Thursday told the ABC that the nature of these industries meant more regulation was required.

"We take the view that boxing and combat sports must be governed to the highest standards," she said.

"We are closely considering ways to ensure the governance and integrity of boxing and combat sports are in line with community expectations."

"So we are looking at tightening the rules to ensure that the chief commissioner's recommendation is implemented."

Despite the blanket ban in Victoria, cage fighting and mixed martial arts have maintained a strong presence in other Australian states with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) holding an event in New South Wales, Sydney last year.

In October last year, Fairfax reported on the possibility of a UFC event being held at Melbourne's 50,000-seat capacity Etihad Stadium.

There was considerable opposition when the Victorian Labor party announced its plan to reintroduce the trade their own party had decommissioned in 2008.

Former Victoria police chief commissioner Ken Lay told Fairfax in October that reviving cage fighting in the state sent the wrong message on violence. "It would be disappointing if we went down the path of glamourizing this extreme violence," he said. Endi