MTV’s CAGED Promotion Shutdown by State

MTV’s CAGED Promotion Shutdown by State

Ring Rulers, the promotion that the featured fighters of Caged fight on, have been denied a license by the LA Louisiana State Boxing and Wrestling Commission

From the RR Facebook page:

On February 8, 2012, the Louisiana State Boxing and Wrestling Commission violated the Louisiana Open Meetings Act by holding a meeting without publicly posting its agenda. A court can declare all actions taken at such meeting void.

However, instead of learning its lesson, the LSBWC (except for Buddy Embanato who wisely did not attend the unlawful meeting) again violated the Louisiana Open Meetings law by holding a “meeting” at a Baton Rouge private hotel room on Friday, February 17, 2012, to discuss whether Will Broyles license would be renewed. La. Revised Statute 42:19 requires “written public notice of any regular, special, or rescheduled meeting no later than twenty-four hours before the meeting.” No public notice was given of today’s special meeting (as you can see from the LSBWC’s website).

The LSBWC tried to characterize the private hotel room meeting (likely the first time a state agency has held a “meeting” in a private hotel room) as an “emergency” meeting, because that changes the notice requirements (but not the requirement of some type of public notice). Apparently, they did not realize that the Act requires an “extraordinary emergency” such as, to quote the law, “natural disaster, threat of epidemic, civil disturbances, suppression of insurrections, the repelling of invasions, or other matters of similar magnitude.”

During this unpublicized meeting, the LSBWC declined to renew Will Broyles’ license. We believe it was in retaliation for Will Broyles’ civil rights lawsuit against LSBWC chairman Alvin Topham, which violates Will Broyles’ First Amendment to seek redress. Will Broyles intends to seek further federal and state court relief from this unlawful action.

Astonishingly, the commission chose to not renew the license of the promoter who has for hosted over 40 safe, compliant events to the state of Louisiana over a six year period, and recently garnered international attention for amateur fighters in the state of Louisiana by producing MTV’s reality show “Caged” in Louisiana. Reluctantly, the show scheduled for March 2nd in West Monroe is cancelled, effective immediately. We look forward to our March 16 show in Meridian, MS and expect a quick recovery of our license and will reschedule the West Monroe event and planning of other yet unannounced events as soon as possible. We are sorry for the way this decision affects all those involved not limited to the fighters, the fans of our fights and fighters, and our staff.
www.louisianaboxing.org

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http://www.facebook.com/ringrulers