Five years ago, the state agency that oversees boxing in Wisconsin granted a license to former junior welterweight champion Aaron Pryor even after he had been ruled ineligible in other states because he was legally blind in his left eye.
But now that agency, the Department of Regulation and Licensing, may prevent 50-year-old former heavyweight contender Earnie Shavers from fighting in Lake Delton this month because of a detached retina in his left eye that was successfully repaired 16 years ago. The surgery did not prevent him from boxing 17 more times.
Cletus Hansen, director of the department’s Bureau of Licensing, said last week that Shavers’ bout Friday against Brian Yates would not be approved unless Shavers passed a depth-perception test.
“I see quite well,” Shavers told a reporter in a telephone interview before asking him jokingly to “hold up three fingers” to test him.
