I am very disappointed in Melissa
Hernandez and by her negative
comments. This is Adrian L. Patrick, of Gladiator X Promotions,
LLC., and I was the Atlanta Promoter of the Hernandez-Dierdorff
Fight. I would first of like thank the NABF, Jill Diamond, Rex
Walker, Brooke Dierdorff, Chris Middlebrook, and any others who tried
to make this fight happen on Friday, August 3, 2007. I think
this would have been one of the greatest fights of the year.
However, I am very disappointed by the negative comments of Melissa
Hernandez. I feel I was one of Melissa Hernandez's biggest
supporters. Melissa Hernandez and I have no contract between us.
Basically, I liked working with Melissa Hernandez because I think
she is a very talented fighter and I wanted to help her. As a
promoter from a business perspective women's boxing is not the best
investment because there are too many problems - it is too difficult
to match the fights, last minute cancellations, etc. I think there
are several individual female fighters that are great to work with;
however, it is a nightmare sometimes trying to make matches for
these fighters. This makes women's boxing a very risky and
unattractive investment.
In December 2005, I scheduled a fight for Melissa Hernandez;
however, her opponent canceled. However, I flew Melissa Hernandez
and her manager into Atlanta anyway, and I paid Melissa for the
fight even though she did not fight.
On January 21, 2006, I flew Melissa Hernandez and her manager from
New York to Atlanta for a fight in South Carolina. I picked Melissa
Hernandez and her manager up at the Atlanta airport and drove her
and her manager to White Rock, South Carolina, where she
fought Jennifer Johnson and TKO'd her in the 1st round. As a
note, I was not the promoter of the fight in South Carolina. I paid
both sides. I simply wanted to get Melissa Hernandez a fight to help
her career. She fought and she won.
On June 20, 2006, I flew Melissa
Hernandez and her manager into Atlanta for a fight against Leora
Jackson. Melissa Hernandez won this fight in a six-round decision.
On the aforementioned items, hotel rooms, airline tickets, food,
purses, etc. I have spent well over $10,000 on trying to help
Melissa Hernandez with her career. Now, I feel like a complete
"idiot" because she is openly criticizing me after I tried to help
her.
Now, let me give my side of the Hernandez-Dierdorff story. This
fight I believe was doomed from the beginning. First, Melissa
Hernandez was scheduled to fight Jeri Sitzes and this fight got
canceled, clearly by no fault of mine as the promoter. At this point
I should have canceled the fight from the card period. However,
after Melissa Hernandez called me and asked me to try to find her a
replacement opponent, I went against my best judgment and
decided to keep the fight on the card.
Jill Diamond diligently worked to find a replacement opponent,
Brooke Dierdorff. Brooke Dierdorff and her trainer, Christopher
Middlebrook, were a dream to work with. They were very understanding
from accepting a fight at the last minute to being understanding
when the fight was canceled.
This was the 9th fight card that I have promoted since December
2005. I always run my fight faxes the Monday or Tuesday before the
fight so that myself and the respective boxing commission can get
the most up-to-date fight fax which covers the previous weekend. I
had 10 scheduled bouts on this August 3rd card; thus, I ran 20 fight
faxes.
Out of all 20 fight faxes everyone was fine, except Melissa
Hernandez. Melissa Hernandez's fight fax showed that in August 2006,
Nevada gave her until July 25, 2007, to get a follow up MRI. (It
was stated as follows on Fight Fax: "NV-Needs a
follow up MRI in 1 year--due 07/25/07")
I informed Melissa Hernandez about the situation and immediately she
and her manager gave me an ultimatum, without any diplomacy or
negotiation, and stated that if I did not pay for the MRI then the
fight is canceled. Now, I tried to explain to them that Georgia does
not require an MRI. The only medical test that Georgia requires is
Hepatitis B & C test only. I explained if Georgia does not require
an MRI why would I pay for an MRI. I would be willing to pay for any
medicals that GA requires like the Hepatitis B&C test, but not an
MRI, because it is not required in Georgia. Thus, in my opinion,
Melissa Hernandez is attempting to
mislead the public to think that Georgia requires the test and I
just simply refused to pay for a required test this is not true.
Additionally, if Nevada required her to take an MRI back in August
2006 and gave her almost a year to do it, then this was the
responsibility of her and her manager's, not mine as the promoter of
a fight. Again, Melissa is not my fighter, she is not signed with
me. I was simply trying to help her.
Additionally, I scheduled a flight into Atlanta from Newark, NJ,
that left in the afternoon at 5:44 p.m., with one stop in D.C.
Melissa did not want this flight she wanted me to change the flight
to LaGuardia leaving on a Thursday morning. I have flown to New York
many times and have flown into Newark, NJ so this is not
unreasonable. Brooke Dierdorff and her manager were going to have to
drive 1½ hours to get to the Chicago airport for the flight. They
did not complain. (WBAN has reviewed the documentation on
the electronic ticket that was purchased, and with the itinerary
stating that Hernandez would leave on August 1, 2007 from Newark,
NJ).
Melissa Hernandez alleges that she was helping me by fighting for
$2,500. She was not helping me. She was helping herself because she
wanted the opportunity to win the NABF title. This was my offer and
she had full ability to accept it or reject it. Also, Melissa
Hernandez alleges that I did not tell her what meds were required in
Georgia. This is untrue. Melissa Hernandez fought in Georgia in June
of 2006, she knew then as well as now that Georgia only requires
Hepatitis B & C tests.
Basically, trying to make this fight was doomed from the beginning
from the Jeri Sitzes situation to the unfounded criticism I am
receiving from Melissa Hernandez. This entire situation just
emphasizes my point, women's boxing is a very risky investment for
me as a promoter. However, I personally like women's boxing and am
willing to keep trying to make it work, because I know there are
talented females out there that need an opportunity. Thus, any
talented female fighters that need a promoter and are willing to
fight I am open to speak with you about promoting you. Brooke
Dierdorff is number one on my list. So, if there are any other stand
up talented fighters like Brooke Dierdorff please contact me at
Adrian L. Patrick at (404) 219-1789.
Also, I would like to thank Charmaine Carrington and Carrene
Hamlett, two females who fought on the card and gave one of the best
fights of the night. Both of these females gave me no problems and
were very good to work with.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond.
Adrian L. Patrick, Gladiator X Promotions, LLC
(404) 219-1789
Note: WBAN has contacted Melissa
Hernandez prior to posting this letter to get some
clarification---and we welcome her to respond officially to this
letter that can be published if she chooses to.
#
# #
#
For Online IWBHF Tickets for
Next Event!
Check Our Next Annual International
Women's Boxing Hall of Fame Event that we have to celebrate hour IWBHF
Inductees and Special Award Recipients!
Next Event, Go Here!
Our Online
WBAN/IWBHF Online Store
Proceeds from the Online Store is to
continue our mission to support the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S BOXING HALL OF
FAME. The Official collection includes IWBHF and WBAN Merchandise and
Memorabilia from the WBAN Boxing Collection. We will continue to list
items from the collection and merchandise.
