NTH Promotions seeks injunction to stop Rigondeaux fight July 17 on ESPN FNF

Posted on | June 30, 2009 | No Comments

CORK, Ireland (June 30, 2009) – Irish boxing manager Gary Hyde, president of NTH Promotions, is seeking an injunction to prevent 2-time Olympic champion Guillermo Rigondeaux from fighting on the July 17th ESPN2 Friday Night Fights show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rigondeaux (1-0, 1 KO), fighting as a bantamweight, now lives in Los Angeles after defecting from Cuba, where he was a 7-time national champion. The 28-year-old southpaw also won multiple World Championships titles, as well as a gold medal at the 2003 Pan-Am Games, during his incredible 243-4 amateur career.

“I first met Rigo in Belfast at the 2001 World Boxing Championships and subsequently traveled to Cuba,” Hyde explained. “Rigo signed a 5-year management contract with me in March of 2007. I am currently battling in the Miami courts to enforce our management agreement because he made his pro debut under the management of GSMG LTD and Marcus Concepcion, who work closely with the Arena Box outfit. I could find no record of either holding a manager’s license.

“I made an application for a temporary injunction to prevent Rigondeaux from boxing May 22, but the presiding judge allowed him to box in the interest of the public, although his purse was frozen. Our case is getting stronger by the day. The only contract with Rigondeaux, on file with the Florida State Boxing Commission, was dated May, 2009 with GSMG and Marcus Concepcion as managers. When GSMG and Concepcion learned of the 2007 contract with me, they showed-up with a 3-year contract dated July, 2006 with Antonio Gonzalez, director of GSMG, as manager. There are numerous contradictions in their contract that are coming out. I have the only valid managerial contract for Rigo and we are hoping the honorable judge acknowledges.”

Hyde also manages three other Cuban boxers who defected and are now fighting as professionals out of Ireland – heavyweight Mike “The Rebel” Perez (8-0, 6 KOs), winner of the World Junior Championships; bantamweight Alexei “The Hurricane” Acosta (5-0, 5 KOs) and super middleweight Luis “El Leon” Garcia (5-0, 4 KOs), both World Junior Championships champion in 2006.

“I applied for and was granted a European Union work permit for Rigo,” Hyde continued. “My intention was for Rigo to make his pro debut on a Brian Peters Promotions show in Ireland and then head to the United States, where Brian had laid the foundation with some of the major TV companies. We would then have a stage to showcase my ‘Cuban Young Guns.’ Rigo decided to go ahead to Miami because he has more connections there. Now, I’m battling for the guy I have signed to a contract, who was the best amateur boxer on the planet. We recently contacted Freddie Roach to ask about his roll as Rigo’s trainer. Freddie said that he wouldn’t be getting involved, but when I’m awarded a judgement as Rigo’s manager, I hope to have him as his trainer.”

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