Mixed martial arts fighter Dan “Hangman” Hooker is promoting an event for amateurs with fights that have no weight limits and one-minute rounds. Photo / Getty Images
Mixed martial arts fighter Dan “Hangman” Hooker is promoting an event for amateurs with fights that have no weight limits and one-minute rounds. Photo / Getty Images
The Boxing Coaches Association president called the “king of the streets” event “straight-out thuggery”.
Billy Meehan criticised the event’s lack of weight limits and safety measures.
He warned of serious injuries, emphasising the need for proper sanctioning and medical checks.
The president of New Zealand’s Boxing Coaches Association has called an event where 32 amateur fighters box each other to try to win $50,000 “straight-out thuggery”.
The tournament, called “king of the streets”, is being promoted by professional mixed martial arts fighter Dan “Hangman” Hooker and was endorsed by UFC fighter Israel Adesanya.
The event is being promoted as having no professionals and no weight limits, with competitors taking part in one-minute “scraps” wearing MMA gloves.
Association president Billy Meehan told Checkpoint it’s not boxing, which it’s being billed as, and fears someone could be seriously hurt.
Boxing chief Billy Meehan says an upcoming amateur fight event is "straight-out thuggery". Photo / RNZ
The tournament appears to be connected to a social media influencer and has links to an online gambling site.
On May 14, Hooker posted a video to social media with MMA fighter and former UFC middleweight champion Adesanya endorsing the event and encouraging people to bring the whānau.
“Bring the family, bring the whānau, bring everyone, come watch, you’ll get knocked out or knock someone the f*** out,” Adesanya said.
In another video posted on May 17, Hooker said too many fighters had registered, “so if everyone wants to drop their nuts that would be f***ing great, hit me up”.
Meehan told Checkpoint the event is a street scrap and should not be classified as boxing.
“The rules are a lot different. For starters, we don’t do one-minute rounds. You’re saying to the guy in the corner get out and start smashing the other guy as best you can. Boxing is an art form; it’s a sport and this is straight-out thuggery.”
In professional Olympic-style boxing, athletes use 10oz or 12oz gloves, “nobody wears 4oz MMA gloves”, he said.
“What you’ve got there is just thugs getting in there and going out and they’re just like absolutely smashing each other and we’re going to see somebody get seriously hurt, if not killed.”
To promote a boxing tournament, organisers must have a police permit, he said.
“It’s got to be sanctioned by a sanctioning body. They’re not even advertising where they’re holding this so the police obviously don’t even know.”
“[If] you’ve got a 70kg boxer or fighter getting in and fighting a 120kg fighter, you’ve got a little bit of difference here. Somebody’s going to get hurt.
“They’re actually saying to both sides to go just go out there and smash.”
In a sanctioned, Olympic-style boxing tournament, every fighter must have a full medical check beforehand and there are doctors on site, he said.
“We have a registration book; everything is recorded in there. Your weight, your record, your experience, so when you’re matching, you’re matching against similar experience, we have weight divisions.”
He said he has been seeing similar fights pop up around New Zealand.
“There’s a lot of it starting to happen. Other ones that I know are involved, it’s a quick buck for them. We’ve got one setting up at the moment, it’s called Semi-pro. There’s no such thing.
“It’s just barbaric, the biggest issue is the people getting in the ring half the time aren’t conditioned enough to be there, they aren’t matched correctly.”
