DKP fighters banned in New Jersey casinos

By G. Leon

03/07/2007

DKP fighters banned in New Jersey casinos

As a result of a behind the scenes controversy at the recent Sultan Ibragimov vs. Shannon Briggs heavyweight title fight, the New Jersey Athletic Commission has announced that any boxer under contract to Don King Productions cannot fight in a New Jersey casino.  DKP is not licensed in New Jersey, and the Commission does not want DKP to get around the fact that it has no license by going through another promoter. The Commission even wrote that if it knew well in advance that DKP was going to take a 25% cut of Briggs' purse, it would not have allowed the fight, but by the time the Commission found out about the Briggs-DKP contract, tickets were already on sale to the public so the Commission let the fight go forward. Now it says DKP fighters cant appear in New Jersey. "We will not permit a repeat of this incident," wrote the Commission, and "any participation by a DKP fighter in a casino-sponsored event will subject both the promoter and the sponsoring casino to penalties." (1:20 EST)