By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The scheduled WBO bantamweight mandatory title defense of Gerry Penalosa against old foe Ratanachai Sor Vorapin which was originally scheduled for March 2 has been moved to the first week of April.
That’s the word from Golden Boy Promotions Chief Operating Officer David Itskowitch.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today, the Golden Boy Promotions official said “we are still working on it. Originally it was scheduled to be in March but it doesn’t look like its going to be in March now. We will try to get it done in April.”
Itskowitch said they were “talking about early April with ABS-CBN. The giant broadcast network is working with Golden Boy’s outfit on the planned promotion.
Penalosa is currently training at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach in Los Angeles.
The problem with staging the Penalosa-Vorapin title fight in March is that the much-awaited rematch between Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and WBC upper featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez is set for March 15 which means that a major chunk of sponsorship money would be channeled to the fight billed ”Unfinished Business.”
Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today also learned that Penalosa was not prepared to reduce his purse which made promoting the fight in Manila a business risk.
