On April 15th, UFC and TUF 5 veteran Brian Geraghty travelled to St. Paul, Minnesota to face rising prospect Marcus LeVesseur on a card promoted by Seconds Out and Vivid MMA. To date, Geraghty has not been paid for his fight by promoter Tony Grygelko, and an official complaint has been filed.
According to Geraghty and his agent, noted MMA manager Shu Hirata, the fighter is owed over $1500 and has faced bounced cheques from Grygelko on multiple occasions since the fight. With Grygelko no longer responding to texts, Geraghty is seeking to prevent him from holding future shows until payment is received.
Two months have now elapsed and the promoter of this event has not paid Brian Geraghty for his fight. He has bounced cheques repeatedly and is still promoting more events, including a boxing card in ten days.
The commission has set a deadline of this Friday for Tony Grygelko to provide proof of payment, which would appear impossible since Brian still has the bounced cheque and records of the return cheque fees. Other fighters in the Minnesota area should take note of this.
Reminds me of a certain promoter I had the displeasure of dealing with. You would see the check he just wrote and know it was worthless and going to bounce. He was a shuckster and I'm glad he no longer promotes fights. I hope Brian gets paid soon.
jjj2121 - How does the Minnesota commission work? Is there a bond that can be claimed?
I believe that the bond in question is for the upcoming boxing event on the 25th. I don't think that there is still a bond in place from the April 15th MMA event, but that is one of the things that I'm going to try to confirm for sure tonight. My understanding is that Brian is hoping that the commission uses the bond from the upcoming boxing event to pay him, as well as anyone else who may not have been paid for recent fights.
The Minnesota commission can't cash the bond to pay the fighter. First, there is no individual bond per show, each promoter puts up a bond that covers all shows in the year.
But, more importantly, the Minnesota commission is currently the target of legal action for a Dec 2009 boxing match featuring Joey Abell. Abell was never paid his $15,000 purse so the commission said they would look into cashing the bond to pay Abell. Turns out, the commission forgot to actually get a bond from the promoter. So Abell's manager is asking the commission to pay the purse, but the Minnesota Attorney's General position is that the bond only covers the States expenses. So the commission can't cash the bond for Brian, because that would be an admission that the bond is for paying fighters and make them liable for the $15,000 that Abell is owed.
A promoter's bond is ,in fact, for state taxes that remain unpaid, but I know in Nebraska the commission used a promoter's bond to pay fighters that were unpaid after an event. If the fighter has a signed contract on file with the commission, I can't see any reason they couldn't use the bond to pay them.
It would not make them liable for the $15k purse, because the bond is probably $5k at most. They should have taken all of it and paid what they could to that boxer as well.
No way could the commission be held accountable for that purse, as long as they did what they could to the boxing promoter, (suspension, fine, revocation of license, etc.)
I re-read that they forgot to collect the bond from the boxing promoter, but they still should not be held liable in that case as long as they sanction the promoter accordingly.
Voodoo - I re-read that they forgot to collect the bond from the boxing promoter, but they still should not be held liable in that case as long as they sanction the promoter accordingly.
I'm going to respectfully disagree.
They didn't do their job. One of their duties is to ensure that there is funds to pay the fighters, either through some sort of certified payment or a bond.... if they "forgot" to do that thing, the fighters shouldn't be the ones that suffer.
Chad, most states don't have a bond anywhere close to $15k, and that is just for one fighter!
I agree that the fighter should not suffer AND that the commission did not do their job in that case, but how can they be held accountable? Even if they did have a bond? The fighter still loses out on $10k.
In reality, no state is going to pay that. The commission has to follow through and not allow the promoter to continue promoting in that and every state. It is really their only recourse.
damn...i cornered MArcus against Brian that night and met Brian after...I have fought for 2nds out many times and they have never stiffed me or anyone that I know of
Voodoo - Chad, most states don't have a bond anywhere close to $15k, and that is just for one fighter!
I agree that the fighter should not suffer AND that the commission did not do their job in that case, but how can they be held accountable? Even if they did have a bond? The fighter still loses out on $10k.
In reality, no state is going to pay that. The commission has to follow through and not allow the promoter to continue promoting in that and every state. It is really their only recourse.
Have the promoter provide certified payment in the amount of the purse. When I promote I hand the commission the purse money in cash. If a promoter can't do that they should be required to carry a bond for the full purse plus fees. (that is how I did it when I was on the commission)
Forgot to post here yesterday, but there is an update on this and it's an interesting one given what Kyle posted above.
The commission has suspended Tony Grygelko's promoter's licence indefinitely and has notified the company that is holding the bond for the upcoming boxing event (now cancelled) in hopes of using it to pay Brian. If they do use the bond to pay Brian, that would seemingly mean that the boxer from 2009 would have to be paid as well.
Ya I am certainly not a lawyer, but I know many of them and most I've talked to think it is crazy for the commission to do this while there is pending litigation against them. One I talked to said that they think this is a direct respond to the Abell case, with the commission saying "well we'd cash the bond for him if we could, like with did for Geraghty" but that is ridiculous, because there wasn't a bond because the commission dropped the ball in making sure there was one. In that case then, I think a jury would find the State liable, because it was their responsibility to make sure it was in place.
