Espinosa home for good

MANILA, Philippines — After living over 20 years abroad, former WBA bantamweight and WBC featherweight champion Luisito Espinosa is staying home for keeps, but without a job, he’s hoping a sponsor will step up to help in making his dream of running a boxing gym in Manila come true when the coronavirus crisis is over.

Espinosa, 52, resided 16 years in the US where he figured in 10 of his last 11 fights until his retirement from the ring in 2005. With his boxing earnings dissipated, he did odd jobs, including cleaning carpets in a casino, bartending and working at McDonald’s, to survive. His wife Cherie left him and took their three children with her to Arizona. Espinosa became homeless and once slept in a garage in San Francisco. When he couldn’t make ends meet, a Facebook friend Joey Chan offered a job as a trainer in a Hong Kong gym and the man called “Lindol” packed his bags to work three years in the former British colony. Then, he took a job working for four bosses in another gym in China for four years. Last December, Espinosa returned home to settle down with his girlfriend Janet Abrea of Davao and their two-year-old daughter Scarlet in Lancaster New City straddling Imus and Gen. Trias in Cavite.

“’Di na ako babalik sa China,” said Espinosa. “Dito na ako sa bayan natin. Wala akong trabaho kaya hirap ang pamilya ko. Ang aking pangarap ay makatayo ng gym. Sabi ni Bebot (Elorde), pagtapos ng lockdown, mag-usap kami. Sana makatulong din si Senator Manny (Pacquiao). One time, sa US, inabutan niya ako ng $6,000. Malaking pasasalamat ko kay Senator. Mabuti siyang tao.”

Espinosa recently received $5,000 as assistance from the WBC Jose Sulaiman Boxers Fund through GAB chairman Baham Mitra. The WBC Fund provides grants to former WBC champions certified to be financial and medical hardship cases. “Malaking tulong ito sa buhay ko,” said Espinosa in a text to Mitra. “Iingatan ko ang incentive at ipagamot ko ang aking tainga para sa hearing aid.” In applying for WBC assistance, Espinosa said he receives a pension of P3,000 a month and is hobbled by a debt of P1.3 million. The application included a certification from GAB medical director Dr. Radentor Viernes that Espinosa has hypertension, an enlarged heart and prostate enlargement. He was advised to consult a cardiologist and urologist and take maintenance medication to control his blood pressure, cholesterol and uric acid.

Last January, the Supreme Court announced a ruling with finality that Espinosa is entitled to receive payment of over P6.5 million as the unpaid balance, with interest, of his purse from a fight in Koronadal in 1997. Espinosa said to this day, he hasn’t been given a single centavo despite the decision. Lawyer Jam Calnea has offered his services to press the payment.

Espinosa has been estranged from his wife and their three children for over 15 years. “Last time kami nagkita ni Cherie was in 2015,” he said. “Malalaki na ang mga anak namin, nasa Arizona silang lahat. Panganay namin si John John, 25. Si Janica, 18, balita ko ikakasal na. Si Nico, 14. May isa pa akong anak sa Pangasinan, Miguel Luis (with Maritess Santos), ‘di ko pa siya nakikita.”