Reece Papuni 'disappointed' by late replacement
MATT RICHENS
BIG HITTER: Reece Papuni celebrates after knocking out Sam Rapira in their light-heavyweight title bout in Auckland last month.
Christchurch boxer Reece Papuni is "disappointed and angry" at the lack of professionalism around the farcical main event in the Fight for Christchurch.
Papuni was the main drawcard on the professional side of the fundraising night, which also featured corporate bouts, but a late change to an under-prepared and out-classed opponent left Papuni with "nothing more than a sparring session".
An organisational botch-up meant Papuni's opponent, Australian Joel Casey, could not enter New Zealand.
Casey was last month sentenced to 18 months in jail for trying to swindle $5000 from his doctor by pretending a murder plot was being arranged for the GP and his wife, according to the Townsville Bulletin.
The sentence was suspended for two years and the Australian magistrate took into account more than 10 months served in pre-sentence custody, declaring that as time served.
Promoter Justin Wallace said he knew of Casey's conviction and was told by Auckland match-maker Craig Thomson that Casey would have no trouble getting into New Zealand. Wallace found out there was an issue only late on Thursday night when he had a Facebook message from Casey saying he was not allowed on the plane.
Wallace then organised another opponent, but two hours later he pulled out, then a third at 11pm on Friday night.
"But we later found out the third guy had fought on Friday night and been knocked out.
"He accepted the fight even though he had to do a stand-down after being knocked out, so obviously we had to replace him."
Palmerston North's Mike Kapi was flown down on Saturday afternoon but was no match.
Papuni and his team were asked to go easy on Kapi, who had one previous professional fight and that was in the super-middleweight class, a class below Papuni's light-heavyweight.
Papuni polished the fight off early in the second round when Kapi's corner threw in the towel following a second knock-down.
Papuni, who now has a 9-0 record, said the victory was hollow.
"It wasn't handled professionally," he said.
"Justin's the promoter and it's his responsibility to make sure the guy can fight here, it falls back on him.
"I spent six weeks building up and training to fight Casey.
"I'm disappointed and angry.
"He didn't even tell people on social media or anything. I put it on my [Facebook] page and told people not to bother coming."
His head coach, Phil Shatford, the former New Zealand amateur coach, was ropeable.
"It's the most unprofessional tournament I've ever been to.
"Justin Wallace can run a good show but as far as professional boxing is concerned, I don't think he knows what he's doing.
"It happens reasonably often that guys can't come into the country because of convictions - he should have known. [Kapi] shouldn't have been there and he could have gotten seriously hurt."
Wallace said he did everything he could to make the initial fight happen, then, when it fell over, he "worked tirelessly".
"I worked with Reece through the process and bent over backwards to make sure he could fight in front of his home crowd.
"We could have called it off but we wanted Reece to have a fight at home in front of his supporters."
Papuni has a contract to have another fight for Wallace - which will be in late March in a Super 8 event at Horncastle Arena, though Shatford said he would rather have nothing to do with him in the future.
Matt Te Paa won the other professional fight, over Ricky Campbell, in a split decision.
MATT RICHENS
BIG HITTER: Reece Papuni celebrates after knocking out Sam Rapira in their light-heavyweight title bout in Auckland last month.
Christchurch boxer Reece Papuni is "disappointed and angry" at the lack of professionalism around the farcical main event in the Fight for Christchurch.
Papuni was the main drawcard on the professional side of the fundraising night, which also featured corporate bouts, but a late change to an under-prepared and out-classed opponent left Papuni with "nothing more than a sparring session".
An organisational botch-up meant Papuni's opponent, Australian Joel Casey, could not enter New Zealand.
Casey was last month sentenced to 18 months in jail for trying to swindle $5000 from his doctor by pretending a murder plot was being arranged for the GP and his wife, according to the Townsville Bulletin.
The sentence was suspended for two years and the Australian magistrate took into account more than 10 months served in pre-sentence custody, declaring that as time served.
Promoter Justin Wallace said he knew of Casey's conviction and was told by Auckland match-maker Craig Thomson that Casey would have no trouble getting into New Zealand. Wallace found out there was an issue only late on Thursday night when he had a Facebook message from Casey saying he was not allowed on the plane.
Wallace then organised another opponent, but two hours later he pulled out, then a third at 11pm on Friday night.
"But we later found out the third guy had fought on Friday night and been knocked out.
"He accepted the fight even though he had to do a stand-down after being knocked out, so obviously we had to replace him."
Palmerston North's Mike Kapi was flown down on Saturday afternoon but was no match.
Papuni and his team were asked to go easy on Kapi, who had one previous professional fight and that was in the super-middleweight class, a class below Papuni's light-heavyweight.
Papuni polished the fight off early in the second round when Kapi's corner threw in the towel following a second knock-down.
Papuni, who now has a 9-0 record, said the victory was hollow.
"It wasn't handled professionally," he said.
"Justin's the promoter and it's his responsibility to make sure the guy can fight here, it falls back on him.
"I spent six weeks building up and training to fight Casey.
"I'm disappointed and angry.
"He didn't even tell people on social media or anything. I put it on my [Facebook] page and told people not to bother coming."
His head coach, Phil Shatford, the former New Zealand amateur coach, was ropeable.
"It's the most unprofessional tournament I've ever been to.
"Justin Wallace can run a good show but as far as professional boxing is concerned, I don't think he knows what he's doing.
"It happens reasonably often that guys can't come into the country because of convictions - he should have known. [Kapi] shouldn't have been there and he could have gotten seriously hurt."
Wallace said he did everything he could to make the initial fight happen, then, when it fell over, he "worked tirelessly".
"I worked with Reece through the process and bent over backwards to make sure he could fight in front of his home crowd.
"We could have called it off but we wanted Reece to have a fight at home in front of his supporters."
Papuni has a contract to have another fight for Wallace - which will be in late March in a Super 8 event at Horncastle Arena, though Shatford said he would rather have nothing to do with him in the future.
Matt Te Paa won the other professional fight, over Ricky Campbell, in a split decision.