The guys must have seen at the Carlos De Leon "fight" and wanted to ensure he never darkened a boxing ring again.
I know the reason why Johnny was kidnapped. Some youths who couldn't take it when he helped someone lady from getting abuse, they were just embarrassed, so they set out to get him, plus he is a boxer so they were extra jealous.
I haven't read Johnny's book but I do remember a few months before this story that a boxer from the Ingle was killed in a professional hit. I think Nelson was the last man to see him alive that night, so this could possibly be the link to a kidnap plot.
Anybody get the feeling like it looked a bit Brokeback Mountain? The horses..Johnny Nelson and Adam Smith are known Homosexuals, they take there horses upto the lake district at weekends...