As it turns out, Rashad
Evans’ instincts were correct.
Advertisement
A few days after Evans said his boxing match against Quinton
Jackson was no
longer happening due to unfulfilled contractual obligations,
the entire card, which was scheduled for this Saturday at the Pit
in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was canceled. The cancellation was
announced on the University of New Mexico Athletics
website where tickets would have been sold.
“The Signature Punch Promotions card set for April 12, has been
canceled,” read a statement on GoLobos.com. “All tickets will be
refunded to the card used to make the purchase within 72-96 hours.
This will happen automatically, no need to call the box
office.”
The New Mexico State Athletic Commission in February approved the
card, which was co-promoted Albuquerque’s Tapia Promotions and
Florida’s Signature Punch Promotions. In addition to Evans vs.
Jackson, the event was also expected to feature a boxing match
between UFC veterans Diego
Sanchez and John
Makdessi. Boxers such as Fernando
Vargas Jr., Shane Mosley Jr. and a number of local boxers from
New Mexico were also scheduled to fight on the card, which was
entitled ICS Mania Boxing.
In a statement on its Instagram account, ICS Boxing
called it a postponement.
“We regret to inform our fans and supporters that ICS MANIA 1 will
be postponed to a later date,” the statement read. “We are
currently working closely with the New Mexico Commission to
finalize the new schedule and will provide an update as soon as
possible.”
Meanwhile, Tapia Promotions announced in a release on Monday that it was
withdrawing from the event “due to ethical and financial
concerns.”
“Tapia Promotions has withdrawn from the ICS Mania event scheduled
for April 12 after discovering significant financial instability
and ethical concerns regarding event funding,” stated the release.
“Investigations reveal that ICS, under the leadership of president
Gary Lewis, planned to host the event without securing proper funds
to ensure fighter compensation — a pattern observed in previous
events.”
For some MMA fans, the intrigue behind the event was a renewal of
the rivarly between Evans and Jackson, which began on “The Ultimate
Fighter 10” before Evans defeated “Rampage” at UFC 114.
While it likely won’t occur under the same promotional banner,
Evans expressed optimism that the fight with Jackson could occur
sometime in the near future.
“I’m going to regroup but I definitely do have a desire to do the
boxing match with Rampage,” Evans told MMAFighting.com. “It was a lot of fun devoting
myself and really just getting back into the fighting mindset.
Since I stepped away from fighting, I’ve been busy doing other
things, developing myself outside of the fight game, which is all
very important. But at the same time, there’s a certain itch that
still needs to be scratched, and I still got it. I still have that
feeling inside of me. Before I totally relent to being an elder
statesman, I at least want to feel it one more time or at least a
couple times.
“If the opportunity does present itself, and we do find ourselves
another promotion that can make it happen, then I’m all for it.
It’s just about making sure that both of us are taken care of and
it’s something that makes sense to both of us as well … . We know
that there’s a lot of promotions that really fit into this space
and really fit into what we do. It’s really a good thing that
influencer market has opened up the way that it has and it’s really
received by the fans and it’s something that’s fun.”