WBC: Tokuyama must fight Gerry

The Gerry Peñalosa camp yesterday dismissed WBC superflyweight champion Masamori Tokuyama’s claims that he had re-injured his right hand as a mere ploy to enable the Japanese to have one more tune-up fight before his mandatory defense against the Filipino fighter.

Lawyer-sportsman Rudy Salud, who manages the career of Peñalosa, said he is "not worried because the WBC made it very clear that neither Tokuyama nor Peñalosa can have any more tune-up fights until they meet each other" within 90 days.

Salud, who was at special ringside in Seoul and watched Tokuyama score a stunning fifth round knockout over Korean Cho In-joo, said that this position was supported even by WBC representative Major Lee of South Korea and Mr. Kojima of the Japan Boxing Commission.

He added that WBC chairman Jose Sulaiman called from Mexico to stressed that "nobody fights anybody else until they meet."

Salud said Tokuyama claimed even after his first title defense against Japanese challenger Akihiko Nago that he hurt his right hand. But well-known Japanese matchmaker Joe Koizumi doubts about the supposed injury.

Salud said a deadline of the first week of June at the latest had been agreed upon for ending negotiations on the mandatory title defense and "if there is no agreement by then the managers of both Tokuyama and Peñalosa will fly to Mexico for a purse bid with each party making its final sealed offer."

Salud stressed that he would "like to give our people a world championship here" but that Peñalosa feels he can go to Tokyo or fight Tokuyama anywhere in the world and he is confident he can take him."

The cost of staging a world title fight in Manila, considering the Tokuyama camp is expected to make a bid of at least $300,000 – which does not include all other expenses such as WBC sanctions fees, airline tickets and hotel accommodation for WBC referees, judges and other officials, coliseum rental and other ancillary expenses, is likely to amount to around P18-20 million.

However, Salud is hoping he could muster enough support from the government and the private sector to make a strong bid against a group of Japanese financers backing Tokuyama.

According to Salud, the title fight is likely to be held in late August or the middle of September "which is no big deal." In fact, Salud said that if the fight is held in Tokyo he would prefer September because the weather is "nice and cool" instead of August when the weather is "humid and sticky."