News of a possible celebrity boxing match between George Zimmerman and rapper DMX quickly drew outrage from many and even resulted in the creation of a petition on the White House’s petition website. Following the announcement of the match days ago and the resulting backlash, Damon Feldman, the promoter behind the match has since revealed that he’s “most likely” stepping down from promoting the event.
Feldman spoke in further detail about the match during an interview with Philadelphia’s Hot 107.9 this week. The celebrity boxing promoter revealed that he did not follow the Trayvon Martin case, which he says was only brought to his attention following the announcement of a not guilty verdict for Zimmerman last year.
The promoter also suggested that Zimmerman is not a criminal due to the fact that he was found not guilty during trial.
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“Yeah, I didn’t follow it,” Feldman said. “I basically—I knew when the whole verdict was announced and all cause it was big news, but other than that I didn’t follow it. [The] case and stuff like that. But what I heard about it, I felt bad about it…He did get off innocent, so it’s like if he was a criminal then I couldn’t use [it]…The whole situation was touchy. It happened so fast…It started getting like ‘Wow, what’s going on here?’…I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t the one in the case and stuff like that. I’m a promoter. I’m a celebrity boxing promoter.”
Feldman was also questioned about Zimmerman being dubbed a celebrity due to the fight. According to the promoter, because of rules and regulations a boxing match involving Zimmerman could only be called a celebrity boxing match.
“Remember that this is my company name,” he said. “The media made him a quote-on-quote celebrity. I never addressed him as a celebrity ever. It’s the only way we could have done this match is under celebrity boxing [battle]. It wouldn’t have been able to be done under pro boxing, amateur boxing. So, that’s the only way they would do with the rules and regulations.”
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Feldman didn’t reveal the amount Zimmerman could stand to make as a result of the match, but did reveal that he would make a percentage of what was made from those watching online.
“He was working off percentage. Whatever came in on the internet,” the promoter said. “Cause we could only show this on the internet…We are doing a press conference tomorrow to address everything. Cause I’m most likely gonna be out of it…Somebody’s gonna promote this match. I know that.”
Although Feldman says he’s “most likely” stepping down, a fight between Zimmerman and DMX has not yet been canceled. While speaking with The Source this week, Feldman says he announced that he was initially canceling the fight because he was emotional at the time.
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“I sent those [cancellation] Tweets because I went through an emotional situation,” he said. “I looked at my kids and I got emotional…As of right now, the fight is not canceled. Right now we’re in meetings as we talk. Zimmerman still wants to fight, but I’m trying to find out what direction to go in.”
Domenick Nati, a representative for DMX also addressed the fight, informing fans via statement that DMX never agreed to a match with Zimmerman.
“Damon Feldman has announced that the George Zimmerman fight is cancelled via his Twitter,” Nati said in a statement. “As previously stated, DMX never agreed to the fight and we thank you for all of the support from DMX’s fans. This situation will not affect any of DMX’s upcoming concerts in America or around the world.”
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When asked if a match between the two is still a possibility, Nati replied with, “I can’t say that yet.”
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