Gerry’s title shot in RP pushed

Handlers of WBC International super flyweight champion Gerry Peñalosa, led by manager lawyer Rudy Salud, are keen on holding the Filipino fighter’s crack at WBC champion Masamori Tokuyama’s title in the country and even offered the reigning titlist a purse of $150,000.

This came about after Salud received an offer from well-known Japanese boxing personality Joe Koizumi who is "the sole and legitimate matchmaker’’ for Hideo Kanazawa, Tokuyama’s manager for a mandatory title shot in Tokyo "by the last week of September."

Koizumi was responding to an earlier offer by Salud to stage the title fight in Manila on Aug. 18.

Salud had written WBC president Jose Sulaiman questioning the two-month postponement requested by Tokuyama’s camp through the Japan Boxing Commission because of a "bruise of his right hand joint," following his fifth round KO of former champion In Joo Cho in Seoul last May 20.

Salud said it was "quite exaggerated" and that Peñalosa himself hurt his left fist when he knocked out Keiji Yamaguchi last May and the bruises "were gone in three days."

The Tokuyama camp offered Peñalosa, the No. 1 contender $40,000 plus three roundtrip airline tickets.

Salud responded immediately with a better counter-offer indicating a total purse of $200,000 which means Tokuyama will receive $150,000 instead of $120,000 which is his manager’s offer, while Peñalosa will receive $50,000 instead of $40,000.

In his counter-offer Salud said that while the Japanese offer was not really unreasonable, "there is now a great desire by the Filipino people to host a world championship" in Manila.

Salud pointed out that "our country has just undergone two tumultuous political events earlier this year and we are now in the healing process and headed into normalcy. Our leaders both in government and business share the belief that a world boxing championship of the caliber and magnitude of a Tokuyama-Peñalosa fight will fast-track the objective within the country as well as reflect positively to the outside world."