KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kansas City Guns N Hoses will return this summer.
The Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission announced Monday the annual Guns N Hoses event has been scheduled for Aug. 7 at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and tickets are now on sale.
The annual event, which was established in 2005, features boxing matches between local police, firefighters and EMS personnel and serves as a fundraiser for SAFE, which stands for Surviving Spouse and Family Endowment Fund.
SAFE provides financial assistance to first-responders from 12 counties in Kansas and Missouri around the Kansas City region in the event they are killed or critically injured in the line of duty
“I am forever grateful for organizations such as SAFE for the continued remembrance and support of fallen first responders like my late husband, Larry,” Missy Leggio, whose husband died in the line of duty with the KCMO Fire Department, said in a statement.
Larry Leggio and fellow KCFD firefighter John Mesh were killed in an intentionally set fire in October 2015.
Seven first-responders in the Kansas City area died in 2020, according to Guns N Hoses organizers.
The Crime Commission also announced Monday that Anheuser-Busch is a Ring of Champions Sponsor for the 2021 event.
“I am honored and proud to support our area first responders with our sponsorship of the annual Kansas City Guns N Hoses event for the benefit of SAFE,” KC-area Anheuser-Busch Wholesaler and former Kansas City Chiefs safety Deron Cherry said in a statement. “We are truly grateful for the opportunity to support these brave men and women who serve and protect our communities every single day, and we encourage others to join us and show your appreciation and support to our real heroes.”
Boxers for the event began training in April and must complete a minimum number of training sessions to compete in the event, which features three one-minute rounds.
Pairings will be made based on age, weight and experience. Headgear will be required and boxers will use 16-ounce gloves.
There will be a maximum of 12 fights among first responders. The card also will feature an exhibition by Police Athletic League youth boxers for the first time.
Bouts will be announced online June 30.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the fights are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Aug. 7. Municipal Auditorium is located at 301 W. 13th St.
