Paul Bamba, who was due to fight Tommy Fury in Dubai last weekend, is planning legal action after losing over £30,000 on his cancelled bout with the Brit.
The former Marine, who is 5-2 as a professional boxer, was scheduled to face Fury at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Sunday night on the undercard of Deji vs Floyd Mayweather. But the fight was cancelled over a dispute surrounding the pair's weights after he tipped the scales at 174.6lb while the Brit was 181.4lb.
Fury insists that he made his contracted weight, but it appears promoters Global Titan Fight Series had different weights on their two contracts leading to a discrepancy that couldn't be fixed by fight night. Bamba doubts that story, and is planning to take his case further after spending thousands and being forced to leave Dubai on his own dime after his flights home were cancelled.
"It's been very mentally taxing," Bamba told Mirror Fighting after arriving home to New York this week. "We specifically told Tommy's team and Global Titans that we wanted somebody there, just like how Mr Fury [Tommy's dad John] was there to make sure I weighed in, but we had to run in and catch him already on the scales.
"They didn't even try and communicate with our team to make sure that we had a representative there, so that was off. Then he [Tommy] was the only reason that I knew his weight was 81kg [178.5lb], he told us, 'No, no, no my contract was 81kg', but he was 82.3kg which is still over.
"I believe that contracts can be re-drafted and all that so I'm very curious to see if they'll release an email so you can see the time and date stamped and we know it's legitimate. If not, then it literally looks like they planned to screw me the whole time. My contract said we had to be the same weight, and they were supposed to provide me with another option like they did Tommy."
Bamba, for his part, has released details of his contract including a screenshot indicating that he must weigh 79.379kg, or essentially the light-heavyweight limit of 175lb, which Fury has never made in his professional career. The Brit came in at his lowest ever weight back in April when he fought Daniel Bocianski, tipping the scales at 177.75lb.
After spending over £25,000 on his training camp in the hopes that a win would kickstart a run of major shows in his career, Bamba was down considerably when he lost out on his fight purse. And he says that his return flight to America as well as his hotel room in Dubai were both cancelled amid the dispute over the fight taking place.
"Francis Warren was on his side and he's with some pretty good people," Bamba continued. "I believe that they would do their due diligence and make sure that our contract was the same... I don't really know but what I do know is that I plan to spend all of my time trying to figure it out until this is handled.
"This is not something I'm going to just easily let go of because my flights were cancelled, I was kicked out of my hotel and I was embarrassed on, like, a huge international platform. I wasn't treated like a man and my flights being cancelled really upset me.
"It's a lot of money; 30-40 grand is 30-40 grand regardless of where you're at in life. I'm not going to be homeless because of it, I'll be fine and I'll be able to work it out. But it's extremely upsetting, though, because it's like a kick in the teeth and it would have been easier to bare with if flights weren't cancelled and all of that. That treatment completely threw me off."
Bamba has opted not to release his fight purse publicly, opting to censor the amount on the screenshot he posted to social media during the week. However, he believes that after a hefty tax bill in his home state of New York, he likely would have spent the lion's share of it investing in preparation in the hopes of landing a statement victory that would put him on the map in boxing.
"I would say it's over $30,000 to be honest," he said of the amount of money he's lost. "I had certain flights that they were supposed to honour in the contract that they didn't. If you count my camp, my cabs, food, sparring partners, all these things, it's much more than that.
"I didn't care about making money on this fight, I invested pretty much the entire purse, minus taxes which in New York I was going to get hit for sure, close to half probably. But I knew this was something I could win so I decided that the money didn't really matter right now.
"I got a strength and conditioning coach, proper nutritionist, made sure that I was doing the proper recovery that I need because if I beat this man, then the money doesn't matter. What I was getting paid would be pennies compared to what I would be offered moving on, so it's a bit upsetting.
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"I'm waiting to total it up so I can start bothering them with a bill, because I wasn't reimbursed for anything. The fight was cancelled, I had to spend more money to get back, hotels. It just sucks, it's not right... Ultimately, this problem started from when contracts were drafted - I was set up and at no point in time was anything in my favour to win, nothing was on an even playing field."
Bamba is keen still to fight Fury at a later date, insisting that he would "welcome him back to boxing" after he scores a massive payday fighting Jake Paul in February. It is believed that a deal will be reached in the coming days for the Brit, who competed in a lacklustre exhibition on Sunday instead of facing his original opponent, to fight Paul early next year.
"Had he weighed in at 81kg [178.5lb, which would be the second lowest of his career], I would have been okay with that," he insisted. "I would have been okay with that as long as it was fair. Three extra pounds? I fought in the amateurs at 178lb, that would have been fine.
"But there was no honesty, no honour among men like John Fury likes to say, so I hope they do the right thing; he fights Jake and then fights me after. He said he wants to fight real boxers and his team have acknowledged me as a real boxer, so I can welcome him back to boxing when he's done his payday, which I understand is a great opportunity for him.
"I truly believe that the boy is scared of me. I say boy because if it was me and there was oversight like this on my team, someone would be getting fired and I would personally be apologising to my opponent. It's called Team Fury, 'oh my lawyer did it, it's not my fault,' but at the end of the day he's in charge of things. I haven't been apologised to by Global Titans nor Team Fury."
Global Titans have since released a statement saying the Brit was paid in full after making his contracted weight, and admitted the contract issue was not Bamba's fault. When asked for comment by Mirror Fighting on Bamba's full allegations, the promotion responded with that same statement.
"Global Titans would like to thank Tommy Fury and his team for their participation in his exhibition bout at the Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday in Dubai," the note, which was first posted to social media on Wednesday, read. "We would also like to place on record that, despite multiple incorrect claims, Tommy made his contracted weight and was paid his purse in full.
"We also thank Tommy for making every effort to try and ensure his original scheduled fight took place. The contractual weight issues between both contracts were no fault of Tommy or Paul [Bamba], the matter is now being dealt with internally. We look forward to working with Tommy and his team in the future."
