Champion faces domestic battery charge

Champion faces domestic battery charge

PENSACOLA, Florida (AP): WBA featherweight champion Derrick "Smoke" Gainer is free on bond following an innocent plea to a battery charge made after his estranged wife said he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her down.

The 28-year-old boxer, who successfully defended his title last Saturday, was released on Friday on a US$ 4,000 bond for the misdemeanor battery count and a charge of driving with a revoked or suspended license.

Gainer and his wife, Monica, 25, are in the midst of divorce proceedings that began 10 months ago. She told Pensacola Police that Gainer approached her on Thursday afternoon in the front yard of her mother's home and asked her to go inside and talk.