By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says his outfit will “probably not” enter the Purse Bid called for by the WBO for the mandatory defense of Gerry Penalosa against former WBA flyweight champion Erik Morel of Puerto Rico.
The deadline for the submission of bids is January 12 and the minimum bid is $100,000. Under WBO rules should the winning bidder stage the title fight in the Philippines , Penalosa will be entitled to 75 percent of the winning bid while Morel will get the remaining 25 percent. Should the fight be held outside the Philippines then Penalosa will be entitled to 80 percent and Morel, as challenger, 20 percent.
Arum told www.insidesports, Standard Today and Viva Sports “I don’t know where Gerry stands.” He said while Penalosa is Golden Boy’s fighter they are unhappy over the fact that he has turned down what they consider good offers to fight Nestor Rocha with a purse of $125,000 and an additional $25,000 in training expenses and $175,000 to fight WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez who Penalosa had called out.
Arum said the Penalosa-Morel fight had “absolutely no interest in the US ” pointing out that Morel who used to fight for Top Rank “is a nice boy but he has no following.”
Taking everything into consideration Arum finally stated “we are not planning to put a bid in” which means that Penalosa would have to depend on Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters of Morel or even MP Promotions bidding to stage the fight.
