The promoter of an amateur kickboxing event set for the Montreal Casino on Sunday says he's shocked that police are shutting it down.
Promoter Victor Theriault says he ran a series of events at the Casino last year, but now one of his people were told that it ran afoul of a section of the Criminal Code that came into force in 2013, making some prizefights illegal.
"They received a phone call saying that the show was deemed illegal because the [event] did not conform to Law 83." he said, referring to Section 83 of the Criminal Code, which essentially bans prizefights, unless the sports are part of the Olympic program, or otherwise sanctioned by provincial authorities.
He says his event is legal and has been for decades, and that the problem has to do with paperwork.
"[The province] supposed to have sent a decree to the federation saying everything's okay. But they haven't received it yet."
He hopes to have everything cleared up before his next scheduled event at the Casino next month.
In the meantime, promoters say they now have to refund about 600 tickets for Sunday's cancelled event.