A Bell On The Officials' Table And A Fighter Sent Over The Ropes: Michael Cummings Wants Stronger Rules To Protect Boxers

One bell on an officials' table. That is how close Michael Cummings says he came to a life-changing injury, and he wants every boxer and every promoter to look at the footage and ask why it was allowed to happen.

The clip shows him tipped headfirst over the ropes and out of the ring, toward the officials' table below. Cummings says the move was reckless and intentional, and he is asking fans to take a close look at the bell sitting on that table. He says he could have walked away from that ring with a serious injury, or been left paralysed.

He is not usually someone who complains, and he says so. This time he wants stronger rules in place to protect fighters. He also says that officials suggesting it might have been accidental is laughable. Boxing clubs have been messaging him to say acts like this have no place inside a boxing ring.

His point is simple. Boxing is dangerous enough already, and the first job of referees and officials is to keep the fighters in the ring safe.

Watch the clip, and then ask what rule would have stopped it.