Boxing promoter Garner had license pulled in Colorado
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Justin Garner, a California boxing promoter who鈥檚 planning a card in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 on Oct. 27, was forced to forfeit his Colorado promoter鈥檚 license for non-payment of bills following a January 2022 card he staged in Denver.
In a Colorado Office of Combative sa国际传媒官网网页入口 document provided to the Journal by , it was stated that Garner failed to pay the contracted amount to three boxers on the card, as well as the fee for the ring doctor and the fee due the Colorado commission.
The document is signed by Garner, dated July 5, 2022. According to the document, Garner did not contest any of the Colorado commission鈥檚 findings.
Garner, his company identified as Legacy sa国际传媒官网网页入口 & Entertainment, was granted a New Mexico promoter鈥檚 license in July and an event permit earlier this month by the New Mexico Athletic Commission for his proposed Oct. 27 card at the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Convention Center鈥檚 Kiva Auditorium.
The necessary fees were paid and proof of insurance and of a surety bond, both required, were provided to the NMAC鈥檚 satisfaction.
The document from the Colorado commission makes no mention of insurance or bond requirements, though Colorado鈥檚 regulations require both.
Phone messages left by the Journal on Saturday for Garner, NMAC chairman Joe Chavez and NMAC executive director Richard Espinoza were not returned.
Garner鈥檚 card is scheduled barely a week ahead of a proposed Nov. 4 card to be staged by sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 Aaron Perez, whose promotional company, Legacy Promotions, has been in business since 2015.
Perez has an active promoter鈥檚 license, having promoted shows twice this year, but has not yet secured an event permit for his Nov. 4 event.
Despite the similarity of the names, the two companies have no association. In a phone interview on Friday, Perez expressed concern that there could be confusion created by the similarity in name of Garner鈥檚 company and the company Perez runs with partner Gabriel Carlin.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 my concern,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淎s it is, a lot of people are thinking I鈥檓 having a show in October.鈥�
Perez鈥檚 Legacy Promotions has been staging boxing events successfully in New Mexico since 2015.
In a phone interview on Aug. 18, Garner told the Journal his Oct. 27 main event would match sa国际传媒官网网页入口 welterweight Clinton Chavez (6-1, four KOs) against New Yorker Dashaun Jones (4-3, three KOs).
Garner said he planned to populate the rest of his card through an online boxer application form on his website (). The response had been excellent, he said, adding that he hoped to have more bouts to announce by the end of this month.
Tickets for Garner鈥檚 card are available on , with only one bout having been announced, but only a few seats have been purchased.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 even have a card right now,鈥� Perez said.
In February, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 promoter Teresa Tapia found herself unable to fully compensate all of the fighters who performed on her card at the Rio Rancho Events Center. Tapia said an out-of-state partner in the promotion, Joe Kelly, had agreed to pay the fighters but reneged. Kelly distributed checks on the night of the card but then stopped payment.
Phone messages left by the Journal for Kelly were not returned.
No action against Tapia was taken by the New Mexico Athletic Commission, who since the Feb. 24 card has paid all the fighters involved either fully or partially.
Because Kelly was not a licensed promoter, the NMAC was unable to take action against him.
