Fitness company Corporate Fighter collapses, goes into receivership as customers demand answers

An Australian fitness empire has officially collapsed and all staff have been terminated while customers have been left wondering what happened to their money.

EXCLUSIVE

An Australian fitness empire has officially collapsed and all staff have been terminated while customers have been left wondering what happened to all their money.

Earlier this month, news.com.au reported that a national boxing fight night program, Corporate Fighter, had ceased operations and let go of all its workers.

Headquartered in Sydney’s Surry Hills, Corporate Fighter offered a 10-week boxing program to amateur participants that would culminate in a gala night where customers would spar with each other, and some of the money made would be put towards charity. A number of events had been hosted over the years since Corporate Fighter launched in 2019, with fight nights operating in Sydney’s Hilton Hotel and Doltone House, in Newcastle’s Wests, in Brisbane’s Royal International Convention Centre and in the Melbourne Pavilion.

Tables would sell for between $2000 and $3000 and there would typically be between 30 and 40 tables at each event.

In an email to customers sent at the beginning of May, Corporate Fighter’s sole director Josh King said the boxing business had been facing “financial challenges” and that he was going to wind up the company “in coming weeks” due to the “severity” of its money woes.

But before he could do so, the company went into receivership.

ASIC documents show that last week, Glenn Franklin and Jason Stone of restructuring firm PKF Melbourne took over the company and are now acting as its receivers.

Receivers act in the interests of the secured creditor who appointed them, rather than an administration or liquidation, where the insolvency experts works in the interests of all creditors.

News.com.au has contacted them for comment.

A fight from December last year. Picture: YouTube

Mr King acknowledged that the news had impacted his staff and customers.

“I understand the impact this decision may have on you personally, your guests, our sponsors, and supporters, and I sincerely apologise for any disruption this may cause to your plans and expectations,” he wrote.

“Sadly, this closure also means that all of our dedicated staff members have been let go … We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause them.”

Mr King has been contacted for comment.

One customer, Lachlan, told news.com.au “When I first got the email I was about to jump into a meeting, I was sitting in silence. I was kind of in shock.”

Lachlan didn’t want to use his real name, but said he was supposed to be having his fight night last Friday.

“We literally only found out the cancellation of it a week before,” he said. “It caught us by surprise.

He’s lost $6500 from the debacle.

Lachlan also raised his concerns about Corporate Fighter’s links to charity organisations.

“As much as it hurts to have trained for that long for no reason, I feel it’s kind of worse if the people that donated don’t know where their money is.”

Corporate Fighter was associated with several major charities, Starlight, Will2Live and Rize Up. They have been contacted for comment.

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Corporate Fighter is now in receivership.

Other customers say Corporate Fighter’s collapse didn’t come as a surprise to them at all.

Greg Noonan, based in Brisbane, is among a group of customers who have been locked in a legal battle with the fitness empire for the past six months chasing up a refund.

“We had concerns about the ongoing viability of the business,” Mr Noonan said.

Mr Noonan and 16 other fighters had signed up for a fight at the end of 2022, which was meant to go ahead in March last year.

But this was postponed to June, then to September, then to December.

Finally, the aspiring boxers had had enough when the event was cancelled again, this time just four days out from the actual event.

“Between the 17 of us, we’d paid nearly $80,000 in table purchases. You had a contractual obligation to buy two tables. We all fronted $5,000,” he recalled.

“People had made arrangements to have friends and family interstate to come and watch.”

Corporate Fighter had set up Facebook groups for the group of boxers to communicate, but after the announcement, Mr Noonan noticed he had been kicked out of the messenger chat.

“We got an email (saying) we’ve removed you from the Facebook group, to avoid the temptation to slag off this decision. Staff will be in touch,” he said.

By this point, fed up, Mr Noonan and his fellow fighters wanted a refund and to put the whole saga behind them.

“There was no talk of a refund. They have the right to postpone events indefinitely.”

He escalated the matter to the Queensland Office of Fair Trading earlier this year, and engaged a lawyer. Corporate Fighter got their own legal counsel involved too.

They eventually came to a confidential agreement but five fighters in the group still haven’t received their refund.

Corporate Fighter has gone bust.

Stuart Perry also grew concerned about Corporate Fighter when he realised how hard it was to get a refund.

The Sydney man was supposed to be fighting at the Royal Randwick Racecourse but two weeks before his fight it was postponed.

Between the postponement and the fight night, Mr Perry was rushed to hospital and learned he had a heart condition called Pericarditis, which is where he has issues with the membrane around his heart.

He received a doctor’s note and approached Corporate Fighter asking for a refund on the tables he had paid for, as he wouldn’t be able to do the boxing match.

“They referred back to the contract stating fighters couldn’t pull out for any reason,” Mr Perry said.

“I had bought five tables, that was like $12,500.”

In the end, he received a refund, after threatening to go to the media and leaving bad reviews on Google.

One hospitality insider who worked for a supplier of Corporate Fighter previously revealed to news.com.au that the company had been struggling for some months.

The fitness company had to enter into a payment plan in November last year with this supplier over a $25,000 debt and events were constantly being postponed.

“Basically one event would pay it off, they were always a bit behind,” the insider said on condition of anonymity.

A number of fitness companies have been impacted amid the cost of living crisis and forced to close down in recent months.

Another major fitness chain, UFC Gym, went into liquidation last year with debts of $15 million.

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