Heavyweights Curtis Harper of Jacksonville, Fla. and Efe Ajagba of Stafford, Tex. arrived in the ring for a heavyweight fight on Friday night's boxing card at the Minneapolis Armory.
Harper was 13-5 and Ajagba was 5-0. There would be this six-rounder and then another fight before Jamal James and Mahonry Montes met in the main event.
All of sudden, Harper stepped out the ring and headed back toward the locker room. The Armory crowd was gathered by then and booed lustily. There was no sign of Harper for a couple of minutes and then Bobby Brunette from the Minnesota boxing commission went to see what was the problem.
"He told me wanted to see his contract before he fought,'' Brunette said. "I told him, 'The contracts are all signed and filed with the state.' And then he said he wasn't going to fight if he didn't see his contract.''
Later, a sideline reporter for the Premier Boxing Champions telecast said she had talked to Harper and he said: "Yeah, I'm good, but I need respect. They are not paying me enough, and they're going to pay me now.''
It didn't work out that way. Ajagba was declared the winner by disqualification after one second of the first round and Harper is certain to wind up with a suspension from boxing governing bodies.
"I've been in boxing for a long time,'' Brunette said. "I've never seen that before.''
PATRICK REUSSE
