Shine Fights 3 cancelation explained
Shine Fights 3: Worlds Collide (Boxing vs. MMA) was set to go off on Saturday evening, with boxing champion Ricardo Mayorga stepping into the MMA spotlight for the very first time against UFC veteran Din Thomas. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
Enter Don King, (in)famous boxing promoter, felon, and ex-convict. It seems that Mayorga was/is contractually obligated to fight under the Don King Promotions banner, exclusively. Mr. King sent multiple cease and desist orders which were ignored and laughed off by the powers at Shine Fights. Don King, being the shrewd and seemingly intelligent business man that he is did what anyone else would do in this situation, go to court.
At 1:20 pm (Eastern), a Florida judge signed the injunction order in favor of Don King Promotions, with one stipulation; Mr. King would need to post a $1,000,000 bond in case the order was overturned. Don King did what any smart businessman would do, he left and came back thirty minutes later with two duffel bags stuffed with cash.
Upon hearing of the signing of the order, Shine Fights representatives again laughed it off stating that they would go forward with the fight regardless. Saying something and doing something are two different things apparently. The Mayorga vs. Thomas fight was called off.
As fans began to take their seats, and under card fighters began their warm-ups, things took a drastic turn for the worst. The North Carolina Boxing Commission, seemingly out of no where, stepped in and cancelled the entire event. The fighters were given the news while the cage was being disassembled.
The Internet went crazy with rumors swirling and conspiracy theories abounded. The consensus was that Don King’s underhandedness was to blame. But, according to the Superintendant of the NC Boxing Commission, Terrance Merriweather, nothing could be farther from the truth.
When asked via telephone, Mr. Merriweather laughed at first, then had this to say: “No, absolutely not. The injunction by Mr. King had zero to do with our decision to cancel the event.”
When asked why the event was canceled, he said, “Fighters safety is the number one concern with our commission, and the regulatory requirements were not met by Shine Fights.The absence of a required ring-side physician was the first, and most major concern. The second being that Shine Fights did not provide the full fighters purse, as required in North Carolina, to the commission two hours prior to the first fight.”
As much as we dislike Don King, and anything he has touched, it is only fair to say he did what any other business entity would do under their contractual rights and the law. He merely was protecting his investments and his property, plain and simple. Seemingly Shine Fights dropped the ball and did not do their homework properly when reading Mayorga’s contract, the North Carolina Boxing Commission rules, etc.
Shine Fights has been contacted and promise a statement some time today, but nothing has been received at the current time.
Written by: Jeff Howard who writes for the Portland MMA Examiner, make sure to check out his website for all things MMA in the Portland area.
