\u201c[If] you\u2019ve got a 70kg boxer or fighter getting in and fighting a 120kg fighter, you\u2019ve got a little bit of difference here. Somebody\u2019s going to get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prizemoney for the events has been $50,000 each time, funded by a social media influencer, known as \u201cThe Doctor\u201d, who shares streaming and gambling videos.<\/p>\n
The first event, held in May in Auckland under the theme \u201cKing of the Streets\u201d, saw 32 fighters take part.<\/p>\n
Auckland professional boxer Panuve Helu took home the title.<\/p>\n
The second event, held in June, was a women\u2019s tournament, which was won by Nailini Helu, Panuve\u2019s sister, a Tongan-born professional boxer living in Auckland.<\/p>\n
The third fight, a \u201cconvicts only\u201d event, took place in Christchurch and was won by Kaia Cole.<\/p>\n
The most recent event was held under the theme \u201cKing of the Knockouts\u201d.<\/p>\n
All fighters that participated in this round have been or are active fighters and have a winning knockout to their name.<\/p>\n
UFC lightweight Dan Hooker announced the first “1-minute scrap tournament” in May. Photo \/ Annaleise Shortland<\/p>\n
Among them were former New Zealand national super welterweight boxing champion Daniel Maxwell, current New Zealand national light heavyweight boxing champion Michael Helg and King in the Ring champion Suran Juanmiry.<\/p>\n
Taking part in the event was a risk for Waitai on many levels, but especially as his next professional fight, a WBA Oceania super middleweight title fight, is due to take place on December 13.<\/p>\n
An injury would have forced him to give up on this major regional title opportunity.<\/p>\n
For Waitai, the risk paid off.<\/p>\n
In his second and third 1-minute scrap fights, he won by decision.<\/p>\n
In the finals, it was between Waitai and James Bishop, an MMA fighter from Christchurch who previously fought in the Australian FC and HEX Fight Series.<\/p>\n
Waitai won the fight by stoppage.<\/p>\n
On social media, Waitai said he initially wasn\u2019t meant to take part in the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot the late call-up to fight in the 1-min scraps [with] two days\u2019 notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called it an \u201cinsane event\u201d and said he \u201cdidn\u2019t do this for money\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to do this for my own self and my own mind. It has been a rough road lately but this is me fighting back.<\/p>\n
\u201c[As] always couldn\u2019t do it without my team, my wh\u0101nau, my friends, love yous all. Hauraki hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hooker already announced the next 1-min scraps event, to be held in December.<\/p>\n
It is aimed specifically at fathers, with no \u201cofficial ring fights\u201d and carries the title \u201cDaddest Man on the Planet\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Waitai\u2019s WBA Oceania super middleweight title fight against Chinese boxer Mielifeier Dalielibieke is set to take place at Due Drop Events Centre in Auckland on December 13, as part of the next BX-9 event.<\/p>\n
For Waitai, who holds the IBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title, the upcoming fight is the biggest of his career.<\/p>\n
In boxing, there are four major sanctioning bodies \u2013 the WBA, WBO, IBF and WBC \u2013 which give a boxer credibility for their career.<\/p>\n
A regional title from any of these organisations is more than just bragging rights, it can also put the boxer into the top 15 rankings of each of the bodies, meaning eventually chances of a world title.<\/p>\n
Waitai will take on Dalielibieke, who holds a record of 10 wins and two losses and has not fought since October 2023.<\/p>\n
Dalielibieke made his debut in 2016 and has not won a title in his career as of yet, making this an important fight for him too.<\/p>\n
He has fought some people with decent records, including Philippines national champion Prabhjot Singh (7-2-1), Jesson Inso (10-7-1), former WBO Asia Pacific champion Jason Egera (24-21-2), Junjesie Ibgos (13-5-0) and Tumaerbieke Nuerbieke (5-0-0).<\/p>\n
– Additional reporting by RNZ<\/p>\n
Benjamin Watt is a retired boxing judge and New Zealand boxing writer with a decade of experience. Watt has also been BoxRec\u2019s New Zealand record-keeper since 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201c[If] you\u2019ve got a 70kg boxer or fighter getting in and fighting a 120kg fighter, you\u2019ve got a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[122986,692,703,49,48,109139,23412,27710,1138,1136,693,55594,122988,122990,122985,38332,122987,82,11376,1457,122989,67349],"class_list":["post-267105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-1minute","tag-booked","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-controversial","tag-dan","tag-edition","tag-fight","tag-fighter","tag-for","tag-fourth","tag-francis","tag-hauraki","tag-hookers","tag-regional","tag-scrap","tag-sports","tag-title","tag-tournament","tag-waitai","tag-winner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}