Dillon Boucher with Joseph Parker, Stephen Luatua, Jerome Kaino and manager Kevin Barry.
Dillon Boucher with Joseph Parker, Stephen Luatua, Jerome Kaino and manager Kevin Barry.
Boxing promoter says lawyers should butt out of former prisoner’s life.
The man behind Teina Pora's first boxing bout is a childhood friend and former gang member who says Pora only wanted to fight in a charity match to support a cancer cause, because his aunt passed away from the disease.
Orewa-based Herman Loto, who goes by the name Ermehn, is a hip-hop artist and boxing trainer, runs the Hibiscus Coast Mixed Martial Arts School and is the company director of Combat Sports Security.
He says he has known Pora, 39, since they were both troubled teens.
This week he's been celebrating with his old friend, who learned on Tuesday that the Privy Council had quashed his convictions for the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett, for which he spent 22 years in prison after being twice convicted.
Loto, 40, told The Diary that Pora was still determined to get in the boxing ring - although when that might happen is not clear now.
"The fight looks like it will be put on the backburner after all the negative media attention," Loto said yesterday.
"The last thing Teina needs is for people to put a downer on something that was meant to be a positive experience for him.
"Teina just wanted to do a fight for charity, you know. It wasn't about the money. He wanted to pick the charity and let them receive the proceeds. His aunt passed away from cancer, so he wanted to fight for a cancer cause."
Loto said he had approached a senior policeman with more than 20 years in the force who had agreed to go on an undercard fight against Pora. However, that cop has since pulled out following the backlash yesterday.
Dominic Purcell with Kimmy Breeding.
"We may have to revisit things down the track. I know Teina is still keen to fight, but we probably need to let things blow over. Everything needs to be handled with sensitivity."
Loto said he approached boxing promoters Duco because he wanted a bigger platform for his friend than he could provide.
"I do small boxing events through my club, but when Teina said he wanted to do a charity fight I told him he was too big a name to put on one of my titles and that we should approach a bigger, more professional outfit who specialise in celebrity bouts," he said.
An initial approach to the boxing promoters behind Super 8 Sky Arena was turned down, so Loto approached David Higgins and his company Duco Events, who manage heavyweight champ Joseph Parker and a string of high-profile celebrity boxing matches.
"David said 'come in and let's talk, and you can meet Parker'. He offered us ringside tickets to Joseph's fight. It was great, we were all very excited. Teina was excited to meet Joseph, and excited about getting in the ring himself. Everyone was on the same page. There was certainly no bad intentions."
That was Thursday. Yesterday, however, Duco stood accused by Pora's support team of exploiting their client for financial gain.
They attacked the boxing promoters for using Pora's profile to boost Parker's bout on Thursday night, and said the video Pora appeared in with Parker was to encourage a bigger pay-per-view Sky audience, on which Duco would clip the ticket.
Herman Loto.
But Loto said Teina knew the video he filmed was a promotional endorsement for Parker, although they believed it would appear on Facebook, not the 6pm news.
"There were no media there, and when we shot the video we thought it was a clip to help Parker and support his fight. We didn't realise it was going on the news. But it doesn't matter. Teina was happy to support Joseph," Loto said.
Duco boss Higgins says Pora's legal team should leave their client to live his own life now he has freedom.
"Teina didn't bring his lawyer to the meeting, and he made the decision to enter the ring on his own."
Higgins added: "I'm not exploitative. I don't need this fight. I'm only following through on Teina's request. If he wants to fight we'll stick by him. It's his decision.
"It would be a shame, for Teina's sake, if this fight falls apart because of a media fiasco."
Loto, who is bringing out another hip-hop album this year, said Teina had a lot of supporters who all wanted what's best for him.
Teina Pora.
He was behind a music video last year made with a bunch of celebrities and high-profile rappers calling for Pora's convictions to be overturned.
"All Teina wants is to do good now. We've known each other since we were kids. We both come from troubled childhoods.
"I was in a gang in my teens, but now I'm a family man with three sons and a business," Loto said.
"Now Teina gets his chance. He was in prison all those years but now it's his turn to lead a better life for himself and his family. Who are we to judge what he wants to do?"
Pora was one of a number of high-profile names who attended Parker's fight on Thursday night, including Hollywood action hero Dominic Purcell, rugby stars Stephen Donald, Tim Mikkelson, Steven Luatua and Jerome Kaino, MP Judith Collins, broadcaster Duncan Garner, sports reporter Jenny-May Coffin, Breakers manager Dillon Boucher, UFC fighter Mark Hunt and American boxer Brian Minto, Parker's former opponent.
