Only three days after a major show at the Georgia World Congress Center, promoter Anthony “Poppy” Colon took a few minutes to answer a dozen questions with GeorgiaFighters.com.
The show Friday night was comprised of about 10 fights including a main event of Tim Stout winning the first-ever Kings of the Verizons title belt. For those in attendance, they saw a terrific show with a state of the art cage, a terrific ring entrance and a lighting system that rivaled that of the UFC and HBO Boxing events.
Also in attendance for the crowd to meet and greet was WEC Feather Champion and Urijah Faber conqueror Mike Brown.
After it’s conclusion, the event has had rumors swirling around it due to a lack of payments to fighters and some key employees.
Rather than shying away, Anthony “Poppy” Colon took time out of his busy Monday to discuss the rumors and try to put them to bed.
WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
GeorgiaFighters.com: Poppy, please tell us in your own words your thoughts on how the Oct 2 show at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) went.
Anthony “Poppy” Colon: “I think the fight was a success.”
GF? What went wrong? Were there too many partners involved? Did someone not to their part?
Poppy: “I don’t think there were too many partners cause there were only two partners.”
GF? What was the downfall of the show?
Poppy: “The downfall of the show was no communication on people that were involved.”
GF? Looking at the event as the whole, it had the potential to be a very nice show. Your venue had the capacity to seat 6,000 plus; there were some good sponsors involved in the show; the lighting and cage were top notch. How much were you looking forward to a successful show?
Poppy: “I was looking forward to a successful show.”
GF? Did local fighters sell tickets and help promote the show? I heard that fighters from Tennessee actually outsold the local Atlanta ticket sellers.
Poppy: “Atlanta fighters did not sell tickets like that the only people who sold tickets were Tim Stout and amateur fighters from Florida and Tennessee.”
GF? Who has been paid and who has not been paid?
Poppy: “Every fighter has got paid their show money. The fighters that won the fight haven’t got there bonus money that will be paid shortly.”
GF? One particular manager has said he plans on asking the Georgia Athletic & Entertainment Commission (GAEC) to liquidate your bond if he doesn’t receive payment this week. The next GAEC meeting is on Tuesday, Oct 13. Is that a concern of yours?
Poppy: “I’m not worried about the bond situation because this will be resolved.”
GF? How did the flood through metro Atlanta effect your show? It’s been said that you had a different room reserved at the GWCC then you were bumped to the larger room. Did you ever think about canceling the show due to the flood and damage?
Poppy: “The flood situation there was nothing I can do because there was something that mother nature brought.”
GF? People have mentioned that the police put you in handcuffs after the show until you paid the money to the security crew. Is that true?
Poppy: “Yes the rumor is true about me being put in handcuffs until the money was paid but at the end of the day I did not go to jail.”
GF? Alex Brown posted the following on the facebook profile of Joe Rivera. Would you like to clear the air on what he’s referring to?
“BRO! We didnt make shit! Anthony stop payment on all checks and then closed the account! Can we say GO TO JAIL Motherfucker! He fucked everyone! I am so screwed it is not even funny. I am going to pack my shit and dip out on my apartment, head back south,and look for a job.”
Poppy: “As for alex Brown he should not even be talking shit because he put nothing into this event. Alex was brought on the company to get sponsors, he did nothing to contribute to this company he kept giving shit away for free. He is the reason why the police handcuffed me because he was paying unnecessary shit like the ring girls and DJs before paying stuff that needed to be paid. No one gave him gave him authorization to even touch money and start paying for shit freely.”
“People are talking a mess about the situation but nobody brings it up when these promoters cancel their shows and then fighters don’t get paid. I know that shit looked fucked up but I made the show happen and I did a great job.”
GF? That was the second show that you have promoted in Georgia. Do you plan to do another show? If so, when?
Poppy: “I plan on doing another show in 3 months and I will make sure that that show will be better then the last two.”
GF? Anything else that you would like to add?
Poppy: “I would like to address the fighters with an apology on my end and I would like to say thanks to everyone who can understand what promoters go through we have a lot of responsibilitys. I would like to congradulate Tim Stout, Joe Elmor, Will Kuhn on big wins Friday Night.”
I think Poppy put on a good show and think he should do another show in 3 months.
The reason you were in cuffs was because you didn’t have the mindset to make sure CASH was there to pay APD. That has nothing with me and if you were such a great promoter you would have known it had to be that way. As far as me not doing shit I was your fucking lapdog for two months filled with empty promises, I even quit my job because of your promises. Are you going to pay my rent or my child support? Doubt that one. Also I gave nothing away for free! If I remember correctly it was you who were cursing at the counter about the amount of tickets that someone else had given away for free. Or would you like to ask the six girls that were standing right there listening? As far as paying people that night, I did ask for permission and your partner knew all about this, as well as him getting money from the ticket sales to pay another individual that night. Then I gave you all of the cash that was left over. So if you wouldn’t mind manning up for your own screw-ups that would be nice or you can do what you do best and blame everyone else. Nonetheless it was a great show, but you didn’t make it happen all by yourself big man. The fighters may be getting paid, but what about all of the other guys. Answer that one and I’m not even talking about me cause I don’t want shit from your crooked ass. I should have listened to every other promoter that I know and stayed the hell away from you. Good Luck!
I DONT KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PROMOTION OR THE SITUATION……BUT ONE THING I CAN SAY IS THAT THE COMMUNICATION AND WAY THAT POPPY COLON HAS HANDLE THINGS WITH ME HAS BEEN GREAT SO FAR…HE HAS MANNED UP AND SAID SORRY…HE HASNT DODGED MY PHONE CALLS…AND HE HAS TRULY TRIED 2 MAKE A MENDS WITH ME SO FAR….PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES AND GET IN OVER THEIR HEADS AT TIMES, SO I DONT FAULT HIM FOR THAT BUT THE WAY YOU HANDLE THINGS AFTERWARDS IS WHATS IMPORTANT..GIVE HIM A BREAK…ITS A TOUGH BUSINESS AND SHIT HAPPENS. HOPEFULLY HE CAN EVERYONE WILL GET PAID WE ALL HAVE FAMALIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES…AND I WISH POPPY THE BEST MORE SUCCESS NEXT TIME…GOOD LUCK
this is Vladimir, owner of LA Boxing Roswell-Alpharetta and LA Boxing Marietta. Alex Brown no longer works for me and I wish him the best.
Poppy has been great with me in my dealings with him but after the fights on Oct 2 I had tried to reach him twice.
The tension between Paj, Alex and Poppy is not my concern and I hope the 3 of you work things out.
the only thing I care about at this point is the money I invested into the show. Poppy, please give me a call as Paj has no ownership in Lights Out Promotions
The real question here was “Where was the promoting?” Yeah, it was on Facebook…..ok…..BUT NO WHERE ELSE!!
As for promoters, all three of these guys are a joke, however, as for performance planning, Colon did have some nice things in place at the show. The walk in stage was sweet, the ring was great, and the intermission live music was a nice touch. (too many damn songs though!!).
Besides the crowd the nasty ass ring card girls (who dressed them up like 15 year old sluts?) were a distraction. The ONLY person that made that night somewhat entertaining was your ring announcer…you better pay that guy FIRST because he was awesome!
Anyway, decent show but lousy promoting….doubt you will ever do another show in the South.
all i gotta say is me and my brother both fought for him and we haven’t gotten our money and he IS dodging our phone calls he told us the Monday following the event to give him a week and he would have us our money..we tried to call him back a week later and NOPE no answer..and still here 2 1/2 weeks later and he still isn’t picking up our phone calls..me and my brother both took our fights on a 1 days notice due to people backing out..me and my brother were both supposed to be paid 300$ a piece for travel,food, and inconvenience’s…and this leads me to my next question Anthony had me, my brother and 5-6 other fights go up to Piedmont and get our bloodwork done…just got the bill in the mail today for 293$ whats with this??..Anthony said he was taking care of all bills from the hospital…well???..i think me and my brother got severely screwed on this show..but big thanks to OMEGA ATTIRE!!! they gave us a great stage to come out on!!!! and the ring announcer was KICKASS!!…all i gotta say is wheres my money??..step 1 contact commission step 2 contact lawyer/courts/cops….
Sean, the commission’s contact info is below:
Executive Director: Andy Foster
Suite #802 West Tower #2 MLK Jr Dr.
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
(404) 656-2868 (Phone)
(770) 408-3793 (Fax)
Afoster@sos.ga.gov