Local promoter sought for Chrisjon fight
Local promoter sought for Chrisjon fight
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Local promoters are being called upon to ensure that the
mandatory title defense of World Boxing Association (WBA)
featherweight champion Chrisjon takes place at home.
The opportunity is open until Friday, when his scheduled bout
with American Derrick Gainer will go before a bidding forum in
Miami, Florida, WBA Indonesia representative Tourino Tidar told
The Jakarta Post here on Monday.
"Therefore, I call on anyone who may be interested in becoming
a promoter for the Chrisjon fight to take up the challenge,"
Tourino said.
"However, they might be deterred by the expensive tag set by
the WBA."
The WBA has put bidding on the Chrisjon-Gainer bout, scheduled
for March 3, at US$120,000.
Friday's bidding will also include a light flyweight fight
between Beibis Mendoza (Colombia) and Roberto Vasquez (Panama), a
super featherweight contest of Yodsanan Nantachai (Thailand) and
Viecente Mosquera (Panama), as well as a cruiserweight matchup of
Valery Brudov (Russia) with Virgil Hill (United States).
Chrisjon was declared the winner in his title defense against
Jose Cheo Rojas of Venezuela on Dec. 3 in Tenggarong, East
Kalimantan, after the bout was stopped when both fighters were
injured.
Tourino said a bout abroad would stack the odds against
Chrisjon and also not contribute to the development of local
boxing.
"The fight now belongs to the world. And if a foreign promoter
wins the option, it will be a setback for Indonesian boxing."
He claimed the bidding process was unavoidable because there
had been no overture from promoter Daniel Bahari, who held the
option for the Chrisjon fight, to negotiate with Gainer's camp.
"The rule says if there is no indication of negotiations being
pursued 30 days after the boxer's last fight, the next fight
option will be put up for bidding," said Tourino, who is also the
chairman of the Indonesian Promoters Association (Gaprotin).
Chrisjon, who last week announced Australian Craig Christian
would be his new manager and trainer, has sought a rescheduling
of the fight until May due to his February marriage to fiancee
Megawati.
He is also involved in an acrimonious split from longtime
trainer Sutan Rambing, who claims the boxer violated the terms of
their contract by resigning from his training camp in December.
The latter has appealed to the WBA against sanctioning
Chrisjon's next fight until the dispute is settled.
Tourino was skeptical about Chrisjon's choice of a new coach.
"If Christian is a reputable trainer as Chrisjon claims, what
has he done in the world of boxing? Has he produced a world
champ?
"And if he is a professional boxing figure, then he should
have been aware that Chrisjon had a manager and that he should
have talked first with Sutan."
The conflict between Chrisjon and his former trainer arose
over the division of the Rojas purse. The boxer complained that
he received about Rp 400 million for the bout, although Sutan
countered that he paid him a full Rp 90 million more, or about 50
percent of the purse.
A copy of the fight contract, made available to The Jakarta
Post, confirms that the two men agreed to the 50-50 division.