By Mark Vester
The saga continues between IBF/WBA super bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero and WBO's counterpart, Juan Manuel Lopez. Several days ago on BoxingScene.com, Caballero fired off a few verbal jabs at Juanma over his decision to face veteran Rogers Mtagwa in fall fight. Mtagwa has twelve losses on his record.
Juanma told Primera Hora that a fight with Cabellero was not going to happen because of the combined sanctioning fees between their three major title belts. Caballero offered to pay for the sanctioning fees and questioned Juanma's manhood by calling him a maricón [hispanic slang for homosexual].
“Why take a chance where you can lose to a nobody? If he loses to me, then he loses to the best. He doesn’t have to worry; I will pay for all of the sanctioning fees. Don’t be a maricón in front of your own people. It’s shameful the way he is acting in front of his own people by fighting nobodies. Mtagwa does not bring any greatness to him. The best fight with the best,” Caballero said.
Juanma's team would later state during an interview that an offer of $1 million or more would bring them to the table. Their purse demand is way beyond what the fight is worth and well above what most fighters receive below the featherweight limit.
Juanma said that he would not get too emotional over Caballero's verbal bait. He was actually amused with Caballero's comments. He said Caballero is offering to pay the sanctioning fees because he doesn't know how high they are.
"I'm quite sure about my manhood and my quality as a boxer," Lopez said to El Nuevo Dia as he laughed. "He doesn't know what he is talking about [regarding the sanctioning fees]. He says that [he will pay them] because he doesn't know what they charge me."
BoxingScene was advised by Caballero's promoter, Warriors Boxing, that Juanma's sanctioning fees would indeed get squared away on their end.
One Caballero team member told BoxingScene - "Asking for a million dollars is his way of saying that he doesn't want to fight. Don't ask for a million dollars, just say you don't want to fight."
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