Dodson banned for biting opponent

THE ISLINGTON middleweight Adrian Dodson has been banned for 18 months and fined £1,000 for bringing the sport into disrepute. The British Boxing Board of Control's Southern Area Council decided in London that the 29-year-old was guilty of biting the Canadian Alain Bonnamie in the last round of their Commonwealth title fight on 5 October.

THE ISLINGTON middleweight Adrian Dodson has been banned for 18 months and fined £1,000 for bringing the sport into disrepute. The British Boxing Board of Control's Southern Area Council decided in London that the 29-year-old was guilty of biting the Canadian Alain Bonnamie in the last round of their Commonwealth title fight on 5 October.

Dodson, who was represented at the hearing by his assistant trainer, Terry Marsh, said: "We had a fair hearing but the sentence is very harsh." He said he would consider appealing.

Dodson was five rounds ahead on the referee's scorecard with 50 seconds of the fight remaining at London's Royal National Hotel, when the fighters tangled on the ropes and Bonnamie emerged with bite marks to his midriff. Dodson, 29, was immediately disqualified.

"It's like a kangaroo court," Dodson complained. "You've got to take into consideration that the Board of Control is a self-appointing governing body. They're not legal, they're not Government-appointed."

"Mike Tyson received a one-year sentence for biting off and spitting out [part of] Evander Holyfield's ears - the Board of Control have to serve it as if they are making an example and a statement," Dodson added.

The secretary of the BBBC's Southern Area Council, Robert Smith, would not comment other than to confirm that Dodson could lodge an appeal within 14 days.