KING JOHN BOXING

King John PromotionsWith twelve years worth of promoting fights, King John Promotions is the longest running fight promotions company in Winnipeg, Manitoba. President and fight fan John Vernaus has not fallen short by any means in bringing what the people want to see. In his twelve year reign , we have seen battle after battle, title after title, and some firsts for Winnipeg. It all started in 1994 when John was approached by the local boxing promoter Tom Burns, and was asked to be a partner to help and learn the ropes of the fight game. Burns at the time was looking to retire and was looking for someone to take over. Being the businessman he is John gladly accepted. A year and three shows later Burns retires and King John Promotions was born, with the sky the limit Winnipeg was in for some world class boxing promotions.We start with King John Promotions first big show held December 14th, 1995 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, where a double main event show called “Ready to Rumble” was a hit. With a title bout, and some major names in the game, the show was nothing short of amazing. On this night we saw the then Canadian Lightweight title holder Barrington Francis fight Winnipeg’s Topps Flores, Olympic Gold medalist Dale Brown go to war with Don Quinn, George McFall go with former heavyweight champ David Fiddler, and many other local fighters. For the first fight without partner Tom Burns, Vernaus finds himself with a barn burner of a show and the crowd wanting more. A few months later and another show later headlines read “Long may King John Reign”. Winnipeg makes it back on the map in the Professional Boxing world.February 20th, 1997 “Ready to Rumble III”, The first mixed card in Winnipeg with Professional Boxing and Kickboxing. On this show we see a first for Winnipeg, a female professional bout with Winnipeg’s First Pro female boxer Shirley Prescott. Only seventeen years old at the time and determined to make the fans happy she comes out and gives them the show of a life time and leaves the crowd wanting more female action. Also seen a World Kickboxing Championship fight, not being as popular a sport to fight fans there was a lot to prove. Local fighter Rob Coquette comes out to show Winnipeg Kickboxing is just as exciting as the “Sweet Science” facing Dave Cummings, and in a battle that wowed the crowd. Was this the start to a new level of fight promotions, or was this just a fad of the time? Feedback was amazing with everyone asking for more boxing, Kickboxing, and Cat fights.A few years and fights later, Vernaus goes through months of negotiations with the Manitoba Boxing Commission for another Winnipeg first, “Ultimate Boxing”. A no holds barred fight which allows everything but biting and gouging and is banned in Canada and many American states. Not only has the fight style changed but the venue changes the promotion is held at The Fort Gary Ballroom, smaller more intimate but a good feeler venue to see what the clientele will think of this new type of fighting. “You won’t see anyone get killed, but somebody will probably get hurt, but we’ll limit it” Vernaus tells the Winnipeg Free Press February 2001. Nobody got killed that night, but the fight fans ate it up and wanted more. Around this same time Vernaus decides to look into the fighter management part of the game.With a small stable of local talent putting on shows got a little easier. Training out of a couple different gyms, sparring with whoever they were not fighting and staying in shape for the future shows was all that was asked of King John Promotions. With a small bunch of dedicated fighters, Vernaus got calls for his guys on fights all over Canada and the US. There were no shortage of fights for these guys as there was usually three to four shows a year at home and several out of town.A few shows later King John Promotions acquires a few more fighters, a few kickboxers who switch over to boxing, and a few guys relocating from other provinces just to be under management by the growing company. Kickboxer Larry Sharpe was one of the few promising fighters in the city to turn over to straight boxing. In under two years we see Sharpe become the Canadian Middleweight Champ. September 2004, Eric “Butterbean”Esch makes a trip to the ‘Peg to fight on the show called “BUTTERBEAN” held in a bigger and more familiar venue, The Winnipeg Convention Centre. Not only was this the first time the big man makes it to these parts, but Vernaus decides to tape and produce a DVD. This night was one of the biggest fight nights since the King John Reign. With 3000 plus people in the crowd, we saw knockouts, the crowning of a new champ and some right out battles. The excitement started off with an exciting female fight which ended in disappointment to Winnipegger Olivia Gerula. Dominating the fight and finding herself ahead in the cards, she catches a nasty left hook from Edmonton’s Jelena Mrdjenovich knocking her to the canvass for a KO win. This was also a big night for the King John crew because this is a night our camp brings home a Belt. Larry “Razor” Sharpe becomes the new Canadian Middleweight Champ in a bloody battle against Mark Flynn of Halifax. This war was stopped at the end of the seventh round when the bleeding from Flynn could not be stopped, and Sharpe becomes the first KJB camp member to become the Canadian Champ.Two title defenses, and two shows later King John Promotions gets a huge offer, a Commonwealth Title fight in England. Sharpe is asked to fight Scott Dann in a 12 round bout in Dann’s own backyard. The KJB crew heads over to England and although no hardware was brought home, a good fight was fought. Having had Dann in Trouble and doing all he could an unfortunate thumb in the eye causes Larry to take a knee. Not being able to see would stop Larry from going on to fight for this title. Coming home empty handed, a bit disappointing but none the less Sharpe showed he was a World class fighter.The one main goal in years of promotions is to make Winnipeg a World Class fight town, and to show the world what we are great at, and putting on professional fight cards is that. With years still to go we hope to achieve this and more, possibly hold fights outside of Manitoba in other provinces and maybe other countries, build up our training camp and build World Champs, grow even more as a reputable company bringing to people action packed fights.After twelve years you won’t see King John Promotions going anywhere we will continue to grow into Canada’s top promotions Company and eventually the world.