Roosters prop Matthew Lodge has been sensationally caught up in a Dubai boxing scandal the place Australian fighters have been robbed of their purses, left “on the street” and now trying to find a promoter who has disappeared.
Only months after making headlines as a possible opponent for Paul Gallen’s boxing farewell, Fox Sports Australia can reveal Lodge was set to as a substitute make his skilled debut in secret, and within the Middle East, over the weekend.
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In a weird twist to his already controversial profession, the NRL dangerous boy was planning to compete on the undercard of an occasion involving a number of Aussie fighters — together with heavyweight Lucas Browne, tremendous featherweight contender Paul Fleming and Olympian Alex Winwood.
However, the group are all now again dwelling in Australia – and in some instances, considerably out of pocket – following what one Aussie boxing supervisor described as “the worst sh**fight I’ve ever seen”.
Only days after the fighters, together with Lodge, touched down in Dubai, your complete occasion was referred to as off and promoter Andre Spencer of Iconic Promotions Dubai disappeared.
Apart from stories of fighters having to pay for their very own lodges, The Middle East Professional Boxing Commission additionally cited a string of security issues for the occasion finally being referred to as off.
It is known Lodge flew his father, brother and supervisor to Dubai for the occasion that was set to be headlined by heavyweights Browne and Mahmoud Charr – each of whom have beforehand held the WBA ‘Regular’ world title.
In latest days, Browne had additionally posted Instagram movies exhibiting himself and the 27-year-old Roosters ahead sparring.
With his skilled boxing debut canned, the prop will now return to pre-season coaching.
Yet for the opposite Australians on the cardboard, strikes are already underway to get the fights rescheduled — doubtlessly on dwelling soil.
Interviewed following the cancellation, each Browne and Charr have been extraordinarily vital of Iconic Promotions Dubai and Andre Spencer.
A livid Lou DiBella, who now promotes the Aussie heavyweight, branded the occasion an “organised scam”
Said Charr: “(Spencer) didn’t make the fight happen, he lied to all of us — the fighters, the promoters, the managers.
“And now, I come to this hotel, and some of the fighters here are on the street because the hotel was not paid …”
One of these fighters with no resort room was Winwood, a promising Australian newbie who fought at each the Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Commonwealth Games. Only final month, the breakout flyweight made his skilled debut, incomes a second spherical TKO.
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Yet after arriving in Dubai, Winwood was pressured to share a room together with his coach Angelo Hyder and, in line with the coach, was not given even the every day meals allowance that had been promised to him.
Fleming, too, stated he couldn’t consider the way in which issues had unfolded.
“I’ve never been involved in anything like this,” the fighter dubbed Showtime instructed Fox Sports Australia shortly after arriving dwelling on Tuesday.
“Personally, it has also cost me a few thousand dollars from my Christmas fund.
“And I actually hear now that the promoter is on the run.”
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As a part of his final push in the direction of a world title, 34-year-old Fleming was set to face world No. 1 IBF tremendous featherweight contender Samir Ziani.
A win over Ziani would seemingly have put the Aussie no a couple of extra win away from difficult IBF world champion Shavkat Rakhimov.
The cancellation means he’ll now attempt to have the battle on dwelling soil.
Asked about Spencer, Fleming continued: “Picked me up from the airport and says ‘hey we’re moving the fight to Tuesday’.
“Then once we got to the hotel things got weirder.
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“A few of the Australian guys were already suss because hotel rooms hadn’t been booked, things like that.
“That was Wednesday.
“And by Friday, everything fell to pieces.
“He kept saying he was going to meet us but never did. He wouldn’t answer his phone, then later would send a message saying ‘yep, I’m coming’ … but he never showed.”
Fleming was additionally in a position to make clear the ‘safety’ points which noticed the occasion cancelled.
“Because my fight was so big, you need a certain (level) of judge,” he stated. “But the proper judges weren’t there.
“Then we were also supposed to have brain scans done.
“But (when they realised) there wasn’t enough days left to get the scans done and the results back.
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“Even when they were going to put the fight back a couple of days there wasn’t time.
“Initially, there had already been a few question marks around the whole thing because our (airline) tickets were taking a while to arrive – people just kept saying ‘they’ll be here tomorrow’.
“But then once Lucas got on a flight, everybody thought ‘OK we’re on here’.
“The promoter flew Lucas business class.
“He even flew me business class with Emirates.
“That’s an $11,000 ticket.
“It was one of the two good things that happened over there.”
And the opposite one?
“Got the best Acai bowl I’ve ever had,” Fleming laughed.
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