Montiel threatens not to fight Z Gorres on Feb. 24

World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel has threatened not to show up for his February 24 defense against Z "The Dream" Gorres at the Cebu City Sports Center, insisting he is not a 'puppet' and that he would honor the original contract for a March 4 fight against the Cebuano challenger.

"I am not going to fight on February 24 in the Philippines as announced by Eric Gomez on Tuesday. I signed a contract to defend the title on March 4 and I am not going to reverse gear... I do not know what they want me to do, but that is my position," Montiel told David Kaufman of boxnoticias.com.

"They believe that I am new in this business, but I am going to show them that they are not treating with an ignorant one. I come from a family of boxers and I am not going to allow that they utilize me like a puppet," added Montiel.

When sought for his comment by philboxing.com, international promoter Sammy Gello-ani said there's nothing to worry about, even as he assured that his multi-million "Moment of Truth" extravaganza will go on as scheduled even if Montiel would not come.

Gello-ani said Montiel has no choice, but to fight on February 24 otherwise he will be stripped of his title and Gorres will end up fighting the second-ranked Pramuansak Phosawan of Thailand for the vacant WBO title.

Gello-ani explained that the Montiel-Gorres showdown was reset to February 24 to comply with the 90-day period for the fight to happen as set by the terms of the WBO purse bidding. The bidding was done last Nov. 27, 2006 and the 90-day provision expires on February 25, 2007.

However, the date was moved first to March 17, 2007 and then to March 4, 2007 because of the planned World Cup of Boxing that has to happen in the Philippines wherein the Montiel-Gorres bout is the main event.

"The Gorres-Montiel fight date was moved and the 90-day period was extended because of the World Cup," Gello-ani said. "However, the date extension was explicitly approved by the WBO only if the fight will be included in the World Cup. With the World Cup being postponed to a later date, the Gorres-Montiel fight naturally reverts back to its original date."

Gello-ani divulged there is an ongoing shakeup in the Montiel camp, which may have caused some information to be not properly relayed to Montiel himself. Yesterday, he learned lawyer Gary Gittelshon is no longer Montiel's manager.

"Whatever, we are prepared for everything. If Montiel will not come, the number two contender is ready to fight with Gorres for the title," said Gello-ani.

The interesting thing is that Montiel has not yet signed the fight contract as of this writing last night.

After being notified by Gello-ani and international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz that the Mexican champion has not yet acted on the fight contract that was sent to him, WBO president Paco Valcarcel gave Montiel 48 hours to explain the matter.

"Please clarify your position with respect to this subject in approximately 48 hours," Valcarcel ordered in a letter to Montiel.

Montiel was forced to defend his crown against Gorres in the Philippines after Team Gorres won the purse bidding for the right to promote the fight held on November 27 last year at the WBO Headquarters in Puerto, Rico. - with philboxing.com