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.