ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Light heavyweight champion Bernard
Hopkins called on the boxing community to protest New Jersey boxing
commissioner Larry Hazzard Sr.'s firing.
Hazzard was dismissed Wednesday by state Attorney General Anne
Milgram after serving 21 years as commissioner of the Athletic
Control Board, which oversees boxing and mixed martial arts
contests.
Hopkins, who as president of Golden Boy East Promotions is
overseeing Saturday's fight between World Boxing Organization
super-featherweight champion Joan Guzman and challenger Humberto
Soto in Atlantic City, said he was "shocked and appalled" by
Milgram's decision.
"I am standing up to renounce this decision and I encourage all
members of the boxing community -- fighters, trainers, judges,
promoters, commissioners, television networks, and the media -- to
join me in protesting this decision," Hopkins said in an e-mail
sent to the media Friday.
Hopkins said that Hazzard ran one of the most efficient and
ethical boxing commissions. From a fighter's viewpoint, he
championed safety and welfare of all boxers, Hopkins said.
"This might be a change that they needed, but it is certainly
not a change that boxing needs," Hopkins wrote. "We were just
fine with Larry Hazzard as a leader in our sport."
David Wald, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office,
said Friday night that the office wouldn't comment on Hopkins'
statements.