By Ronnie Nathanielsz
A ten-round non title fight between Filipino featherweight Michael Farenas and former WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon is in the works but several details have to be settled, including the purse of Ponce De Leon.
Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that they “got an offer from Sammy (Gello-ani)” for the planned fight in late April but that Ponce De Leon “would like a little bit more money.”
In the past the former super bantamweight champion who scored a unanimous decision in a title defense against WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa and scored a stunning first round knockout over promising Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista wanted $150,000.
However, Gomez said this time around the purse he is asking for “is very reasonable” although he gave no figures.
Gello-ani, a well-known promoter especially in the Visayas and Mindanao is likely to hope for substantial financial support from the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN but with the current economic recession and the reality that the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight on May 2 would eat up advertising revenues, the proposed fight is still a long way from being finalized.
Farenas, a hard-hitting southpaw and a protégé of Penalosa hasn’t really been tested and in his last two fights which he won by a first round knockout over a Thai patsy and followed up with a third round stoppage against a slightly better Thai fighter. Besides, he is not really well known so the fight may be a hard sell.
However, if Gello-ani is able to raise the funds needed to stage the fight and if ABS-CBN with its promotional power covers the fight, then, as Gomez told us, “Ponce De Leon is willing to come to Manila to fight Farenas and it should be a good one.”
