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There is a difference between non-televised money and televised money. If they told him the fight wasn't on TV when he signed the contract they should've renegotiated when they decided to put the fight on TV. Sounds like they were trying to pull a fast one on Harper and he said fck it and walked out.
Prior to entering the ring to face Harper, he had five knockout victories in five fights with four of these KOs coming in the first round. The fight card was televised by FS1 and Fox Deportes with Warriors Boxing and TGB Promotions as co-promoters. Warriors Boxing president Leon Margules says that TGB put Ajagba on the card and arranged for Harper to be the opponent. Everyone understood that Harper was overmatched. But boxing regularly sees fights that are more lopsided than Ajagba-Harper was expected to be.
Harper, his wife (Sandra Rosenberg), and trainer Nate Campbell flew out of Jacksonville on Wednesday, Aug. 22. They changed planes in Charlotte, N.C., and arrived in Minneapolis at 10:07 p.m. Ajagba-Harper was one of 11 fights scheduled for Friday night. The fighters entered the ring as planned and were introduced to the crowd. Referee Celestino Ruiz gave his final in-ring instructions. The fighters returned to their respective corners. The bell rang. And then it happened. Harper turned his back on Ajagba, stepped between the ring ropes, and walked away from the ring, down an elevated ramp, across the stage, to his dressing room. Whatever thoughts were racing through his mind didn't show. His outward appearance was calm, cool, and collected.
Rick Glaser, who has represented Harper in past dealings and been in touch with the Minnesota Office of Combative Sports on the fighter's behalf, says that Curtis is "a martyr under protest." Asked to explain, Glaser elaborates: "What happened here was, on Aug. 12, Curtis was given a contract to fight Ajagba for $6,000. He specifically asked the person who gave him the contract whether the fight would be on TV and was told no. He signed the contract on Aug. 13 and sent it back that day. After that, he was treated like garbage. He and his wife didn't get their plane tickets until Aug. 22 [the day of their flight]. They flew into Minneapolis and waited at the airport for an hour and 45 minutes before they were picked up. Then, at the weigh-in on Thursday, Curtis learned that, contrary to what he'd been told before, his fight was going to be on TV. And he still hadn't been given a countersigned contract. So he wanted more money."
Harper struggles when asked to explain his motivation for leaving the ring on Aug. 24.
"I'm still upset," he says before adding, "I signed the contract, but they never gave me a signed contract back. They told me that there was no TV, and then it was a TV fight. I kept asking for the signed contract, and they wouldn't give it to me."
Asked when he decided that he wasn't going to fight, Harper answers, "I pretty much made up my mind in the dressing room, but I wasn't sure. Then, when we touched gloves and I saw one of the people who hadn't done right by me in the other corner, that was it."
Leon Margules, who co-promoted the fight card, says, "I heard from someone who was in the locker room with Harper afterward that Harper said the bell for Round 1 rang so he wanted to get paid."
"We're not the bad guys in this," Margules continues. "There are promoters who would have thrown Harper and his wife out of the hotel and canceled their return flights. I think he should explain himself and apologize. I think he should be suspended for a reasonable period of time with what's reasonable being determined by his explanation. And I think he should repay the direct out-of-pocket expenses that his doing this cost us."
Then, Margules rattles off a list of direct out-of-pocket expenses: 1) roundtrip airfare for three people (Harper, Rosenberg, and Campbell) between Jacksonville and Minneapolis ($1,541); 2) hotel accommodations (two rooms for three nights, $1,002); 3) meal money ($40 per day for three people for three days, $360). That comes to roughly $2,900. Now double that and then some when adding in expenses for Ajagba. Margules says that direct out-of-pocket expenses for Ajagba-Harper (not including the fighters' purses) came to $7,465.
Harper, his wife (Sandra Rosenberg), and trainer Nate Campbell flew out of Jacksonville on Wednesday, Aug. 22. They changed planes in Charlotte, N.C., and arrived in Minneapolis at 10:07 p.m. Ajagba-Harper was one of 11 fights scheduled for Friday night. The fighters entered the ring as planned and were introduced to the crowd. Referee Celestino Ruiz gave his final in-ring instructions. The fighters returned to their respective corners. The bell rang. And then it happened. Harper turned his back on Ajagba, stepped between the ring ropes, and walked away from the ring, down an elevated ramp, across the stage, to his dressing room. Whatever thoughts were racing through his mind didn't show. His outward appearance was calm, cool, and collected.
Rick Glaser, who has represented Harper in past dealings and been in touch with the Minnesota Office of Combative Sports on the fighter's behalf, says that Curtis is "a martyr under protest." Asked to explain, Glaser elaborates: "What happened here was, on Aug. 12, Curtis was given a contract to fight Ajagba for $6,000. He specifically asked the person who gave him the contract whether the fight would be on TV and was told no. He signed the contract on Aug. 13 and sent it back that day. After that, he was treated like garbage. He and his wife didn't get their plane tickets until Aug. 22 [the day of their flight]. They flew into Minneapolis and waited at the airport for an hour and 45 minutes before they were picked up. Then, at the weigh-in on Thursday, Curtis learned that, contrary to what he'd been told before, his fight was going to be on TV. And he still hadn't been given a countersigned contract. So he wanted more money."
Harper struggles when asked to explain his motivation for leaving the ring on Aug. 24.
"I'm still upset," he says before adding, "I signed the contract, but they never gave me a signed contract back. They told me that there was no TV, and then it was a TV fight. I kept asking for the signed contract, and they wouldn't give it to me."
Asked when he decided that he wasn't going to fight, Harper answers, "I pretty much made up my mind in the dressing room, but I wasn't sure. Then, when we touched gloves and I saw one of the people who hadn't done right by me in the other corner, that was it."
Leon Margules, who co-promoted the fight card, says, "I heard from someone who was in the locker room with Harper afterward that Harper said the bell for Round 1 rang so he wanted to get paid."
"We're not the bad guys in this," Margules continues. "There are promoters who would have thrown Harper and his wife out of the hotel and canceled their return flights. I think he should explain himself and apologize. I think he should be suspended for a reasonable period of time with what's reasonable being determined by his explanation. And I think he should repay the direct out-of-pocket expenses that his doing this cost us."
Then, Margules rattles off a list of direct out-of-pocket expenses: 1) roundtrip airfare for three people (Harper, Rosenberg, and Campbell) between Jacksonville and Minneapolis ($1,541); 2) hotel accommodations (two rooms for three nights, $1,002); 3) meal money ($40 per day for three people for three days, $360). That comes to roughly $2,900. Now double that and then some when adding in expenses for Ajagba. Margules says that direct out-of-pocket expenses for Ajagba-Harper (not including the fighters' purses) came to $7,465.
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