Boxer won gang's respect

By HELEN TUNNAH

At Black Power's Kia Kaha boxing clubs, they know Auckland fighter Peter Williams well.

A big man, Williams needed other big, tough sparring partners for training, and the Black Power-linked Kia Kaha Boxing Club was one of the few centres that could provide strong boxers willing to tussle.

Those boxers, some patched gang members, told the Herald of being soundly beaten by Williams in the ring. Yesterday, they just said they hoped he would be all right.

Williams, 27, has been lying seriously ill with head injuries since winning the super heavyweight title at the national amateur championships late last month.

He collapsed about two hours after his fight, and remains in a medically induced coma in Timaru Hospital.

New Zealand Boxing officials are investigating whether Williams had failed to declare his full fight history, and if he had suffered past injuries they were not aware of.

But there are now claims that Williams had been hurt a fortnight before the amateur titles, taking on 18 Black Power members in an initiation ceremony to earn his patch.

Media reports said he had to punch his way along a line of gang members, while being punched and kicked himself.

He was left with blood pouring from a head wound from the repeated beatings.

New Zealand Boxing Association chairman Keith Walker said the claims would be investigated.

"It would be devastating to me if it's fact."

Black Power would not say yesterday if Williams was a member, or if there had been some initiation ceremony, but labelled the reports "false allegations".

One former gang member involved with boxing said he knew Williams had fought Kia Kaha boxers, but that was all. He said Williams, a South Aucklander, needed the big men for training and could find them at Kia Kaha's Otara club. He thought the gang initiation claims were unlikely.

Williams was an Auckland registered boxer, and neither he nor his trainer had any formal ties to the Kia Kaha Boxing Club.

Kia Kaha and Auckland Black Power president Mark Pitman said reports that Williams had been hurt in an initiation ceremony were not true. But he would not talk about Black Power issues.

Mr Pitman, also the president of the Counties Manukau Boxing Association, said it was disrespectful to speak badly of someone who was so ill.

"They shouldn't be talking about the man when he's lying in hospital. His family are grieving. We wish him all the best.

"My guys have been in the ring with him, and have respect for him.

"Before we left down there, we went to the hospital to visit him, and left a bit of koha there for the family.

"All our boys have been asking how is he. Every time I walk into the gym, they all ask: 'How's Peter'. They all know him, they all know how powerful he is.

"We're glad he won his national title."

Mr Pitman said Kia Kaha Boxing Clubs were formed more than 10 years ago and were run separately from Black Power, although some gang members might box.

"It's free for the young people, to show them they put in the work and they can get there.

"The Black Power boys pay for trophies for them, run the hangi to pay for things. We have to fundraise like everybody else."

Auckland Boxing Association president Gary McCrystal said yesterday that he had no knowledge of Williams having gang affiliations, but it was not unusual for boxers to be linked to gangs.