Promoter returns to Chrisjon for match
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Boxing promoter Daniel Bahari, who previously had parted company with WBA featherweight champion Chrisjon, has recently got back involved by offering to put together a US$75,000 fight with Derrick Gainer in November, according to WBA coordinator for Indonesia Tourino Tidar.
Daniel played a key role in Chrisjon's rise to the world championship. He brought his 25-year-old protege along on a trip to Japan and returned home triumphantly after defeating Osamu Sato in his first title defense in Tokyo.
However, plans to fight either world No. 7 Spend Abazi of Denmark or No. 14 Jose Cheo Rojas of Venezuela fell through after Daniel and Chrisjon's trainer could not agree on the payment.
The disagreement resulted in the departure of Daniel at the time. His offer came one week after little-known promoter M. Arsyad from East Kalimantan had offered the match fee at $70,000.
While confirming Daniel's offer, Tourino said he did not understand the move made by Daniel.
"I have no explanation about Daniel's move. Arsyad made his own to avoid Chrisjon's match from being put on a bid," Tourino said.
Apart from Daniel's abrupt turnaround, Tourino said that bidding, which could have drawn foreign promoters to take the match option, had now been avoided.
The WBA had formerly scheduled the bidding for Oct. 12-13.
Gainer's side, in their faxed letter to Tourino, appear to be in favor of accepting Daniel's offer.
Meanwhile, the involved Indonesians -- Arsyad, Daniel, Sutan Rambing and officials from Indosiar TV -- will be seeking to resolve the problem on Thursday.
Tourino said that payment for Chrisjon had already been resolved by Sutan in the form of sponsorships.
"Sutan has told me that they had secured a total of Rp 2.25 billion from a sponsor, Rp 1.5 billion (US$160,000) of which will go to Chrisjon."
The bout, according to Tourino, is likely to take place in Kutai, East Kalimantan, at the end of November.
Chrisjon, with a perfect 34-0-0 record, became the WBA featherweight champion after defeating Oscar Leon of Colombia in September last year in Bali before retaining the title with a win over Osamu Sato.