Asked whether he wanted to avoid Slice’s standup game, Petruzelli insinuated much more than he ever meant to.
“I knew I would do all right, actually, standing up with him, but the promoters kind of hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and trade with him,” Petruzelli said over the phone to a room full of radio hosts. “They didn’t want me to take him down -- let’s just put it that way. It was worth my while to try to stand up and punch with him.”
The statement -- which Petruzelli said he made hung-over and on little sleep -- implies that EliteXC compensated him to keep the fight away from the mats where the more experienced fighter had a clear advantage over Slice. The inference has raised questions of impropriety for a promotion struggling to keep its head above water. And since Monday, Petruzelli has been zealous in trying to reverse his words.
“It was my own wanting to get the knockout bonus,” he told Sherdog.com Tuesday. “It wasn’t them saying, ‘I don’t want you to take him down, I want you to stand with him and I’m going to give you so much money just to stand.’ It was, ‘We have a knockout bonus. There it is. If you want it, take it.’”
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