A Fight For Life charity boxing event in Wairoa has been sucker-punched after police declined to give it a permit as it could cause tension between rival gang members.

Wairoa Boxing Club had planned to hold the event, involving 21 fighters, on Saturday, October 15, .

It said in a post to social media that tickets had nearly sold out, but on Tuesday afternoon, the police informed the club the boxing permit for the event had been declined.

A permit is required for any professional or amateur boxing contest in New Zealand.

It is granted by police after the promoter applies to an approved association, such as Boxing New Zealand.

Wairoa Boxing Club said the Eastern District Intelligence Unit undertook an assessment of the risk the event posed to members of the public.

This resulted in advice that the event would be attended by gang members from Black Power and Mongrel Mob “who would be there to support family and friends on the fight card”.

“There is a realistic possibility that underlying tension between Mongrel Mob and Black Power members in the Wairoa area could escalate to further conflict offending, including violence or disorder,” the police told the club.

“This would be as a result of being in a shared space and the competitive nature of the event, paired with the consumption of alcohol.”

The club said they were feeling “gutted” and “pretty p**** off” that the actions of “a small group of others (who are not even related to the boxing club in any way) means we can’t have a community event for a good cause”.

Its social media post sympathised with the 21 fighters who had sacrificed their time and energy to prepare for the fight over the last 12 weeks.

It said the club was also “gutted” for tamariki - the event was raising money for free boxing lessons for youth in the town.

“We’re only a small club and we have lost thousands of dollars on non-refundable deposits we have already paid for the event which is heart-breaking.”

The club was working through refunding the money in the coming days and said it would reapply for the boxing permit when tensions died down.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said he had attended previous Fight for Life events at the club and was surprised when he first heard about the cancellation.

“[Police] believe this event may escalate some of those tensions out in the community,” he said.

“Unfortunately the behaviour of gangs in our community in the recent couple of weeks, there’s been a little undertow happening there, and I think we just can’t tolerate this behaviour because unfortunately, events like this will be cancelled if it carries on.”

Little said the Fight For Life events were not run by gangs, but there were gang members involved.

He said he wanted tensions to ease between Wairoa gangs to get the event up and running again.

“The police have said it will happen again, but the first thing they want to do is sit down with the gang leaders and some of the community, including myself, and just go through the issues,” he said.

“The problem is we accept it too much that this is quite acceptable.”

Police have been contacted for comment.

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.