Boxing legend Jeff Fenech slams Aussie backyard ‘fight club'
The rapper behind a brutal underground fight club in Sydney's west has blasted Jeff Fenech after the boxing great's criticism of his events.
As first reported by The Daily Telegraph, an amateur boxing series called The Hood Contender has sprung up on social media in recent months, drawing the attention of NSW Police.
The brain child of rapper Hoodrich Hefner, whose real name is Caleb Valeri, the events claim to be staged 'for men's health' and to 'earn honour and respect'.
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Valeri's Instagram account has over 78,000 followers and features a series of videos from the fights, which are open to amateurs only, weighing between 80 and 100 kgs.
The entrants wear MMA gloves and are only required to bring a mouthguard to compete, with some shocking fights taking place at undisclosed locations.
Fenech strongly criticised the series, calling it 'sad' in an interview with the Telegraph and declaring 'your friends will call you tough … but see if they're there in 30 years when you need someone to wipe your arse'.
Valeri clearly didn't take kindly to the publicity from Fenech's comments, teeing off on an Instagram video on Thursday.
'G'day Jeff mate, look all you had to do was ask me to come to the Hood Contender event and I would've allowed it,' he said.
'But now you've gone and spoken to your little media buddies and f**ked it for everyone. Now you're not welcome at our events.
'But you could've come down and seen it for yourself.
'We don't sell tickets, any money the fighters make are donations from people in the crowd, OK?
'There's no alcohol, there's no crowd fights, we have security, we have first aid, we have medics, we have all the good stuff on standby for our fighters.
'No one's getting stabbed, no one's getting their head kicked in, no one's drinking and knocking some bloke out from behind, he hits his head on the ground and he's f**king in hospital for the rest of his life.
'There's none of that mate, it's a well controlled sparring event. You should come down and really check it out.
'I reckon you would love it, you and your little mates. Come down and check it out and tell me what you think.'
Valeri hosted the first Hood Contender event in June and then another on July 13.
Despite claiming fighters only earn 'donations' from onlookers, Valeri stated in his initial launch video on May 30 the winner would earn $5,000 and have the chance to earn another $1000 for knockout or performance of the night, calling it a 'founder's gift'.
He appealed to interested men in Sydney, the Central Coast or the Newcastle region 'who love a scrap', adding the series would soon be expanding to other states.
It also has almost 20,000 subscribers on YouTube, with the most recent video earlier this month receiving over 148,000 views.
In the introduction of that latest video, Valeri explains some of the genesis for the idea.
'We've set up a Hood colosseum with hay bales, it's quite exciting. We hope to bring a great production to the viewers at home watching,' he said.
'Our main objective is for men's mental health. What we're doing right now is for men's mental health.
'We want boys to come here, earn honour and respect and be mates at the end.
'We want to provide a platform for boys that have got talent and sitting in the street right now with a lot of talent.
'You might have a few kids, you might be married, just working a job, no spark in your life.
This is for them boys.'
Valeri has been snapped with MMA great Mark Hunt, while current UFC fighter Navajo Stirling appears in an Instagram video checking out some of the action.
In one video, a fighter dislocates his shoulder and has it popped back in before continuing.
In others, a 'referee' steps in to stop the contests, with a fighter clearly on top.
The Hood Contender has drawn a huge number of likes and comments on its social media posts, including some responses to Valeri's message to Fenech.
One wrote on Instagram: 'Exactly right, the fighters wanna fight, everyone has respect and manners and the crowd is a better vibe then any event I've seen before. Lots of motivation and love there.'
Another said: '(Fenech) hates to see that your doing more with less … no promotion no sponsors nothing just men being standing on their word and 2 successful events NO ISSUES. tell him Bring his best fighter.'
A third wrote: 'Nothing better than having a scrap with gentleman and shaking hands regardless of the decision all love at the end of the day.'
Another wrote simply: 'Can't wait for the next one.'
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