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TAPALES READY TO RUMBLE, BUT WILL HE GET HIS PURSE ON TIME? By Ed de la Vega, DDS PhilBoxing.com Wed, 04 May 2011  A young warrior from the Philippines who had never fought in the US let alone at Las Vegas is booked to fight on Friday night at the Mandalay Bay Casino Resort. He will be on the undercard of the Bernabe Concepcion vs. Juan Carlos Martinez main event. The young fighter is Marlon Tapales, an 18 year old from Lala, Lanao del Norte. Tapales is known as ?D Bulldozer?. He holds a respectable 16-1-0 (5KO) fight record. Tapales will be matched against a Huntington Park, California fighter with a dismal record of 4-4-0, 3 KO. His name is Alejandro Solorio. Although reports indicate that the fight is still subject to change and commission approval, if indeed it goes through as proposed, Tapales should not have a problem disposing Solorio. In fact, Tapales would probably have a far harder time collecting his purse immediately after the fight than in disposing his opponent. Such incident has happened before to young Filipino fighters who came to the US to risk their lives for a decent pay day. Words in the grapevine indicate that someone took days waiting to be paid when it was said that the money was already in hand. In fact, they said the check from the fight commission was handed to the handler right after the fight was over and even before a post fight urine test was done. Another fighter was said to have gone home to the Philippines without a check or cash in his hand and had to wait days to be paid. As to why it takes so much time to pay these boxers is a big mystery. But some people in the know are so familiar with the reasons but just won?t say it publicly. Could it be perhaps that someone is too busy to attend to the little guys as he is so deeply involved with the real big guy? If that is the case, why can?t he delegate the job to someone else? Anyway, the amount of money involved in these undercard fights are nothing compared to what his real boss gets for a fight. Greedy? I hope not. But some say that is exactly the case. Controlling? Absolutely! The said handler is not a Filipino citizen but does work in the Philippines. I wonder does he pay Philippine income taxes? According to a respected Filipino scribe I recently spoke to, this handler even charged the boxers for miniscule items like the staple wires used to hold together the documents of the fighters and for taxi expenses whose receipts he can not produce. On top of that, he treats them shabbily. One fighter fought for a title and was not given enough nutrition. In fact, it was said he was fed French fries! No wonder he was knocked-out! In fact, this writer has first hand knowledge about a title fight held in Mexico involving a Filipino champion promoted by the same handler versus a Mexican challenger. The poor boxer had to use his meager resources to buy his food when that should have been advanced by the handler. On top of that, he had to wait for an agonizing 10 days after the fight to be paid. I could never forget the boxer?s wife that practically begged the handler at the airport in Mexico for a small advance payment to celebrate her son?s birthday. Of course she got nothing. ?He is utterly heartless?, said one of the trainers who is familiar with the incident. And, vindictive to boot, if I may add. Incidentally, the same Filipino fighter is fighting on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Mosley undercard. Hopefully since the fight is in Nevada and the purse need not be ?wire-transferred from Mexico thus allegedly takes 10 days to clear (really?), will be paid immediately. In Nevada, the Commission hands the check right after the fight in the dressing room and that check can even be cashed at the MGM Casino cashier and the money be given immediately to the boxer. I am sure however, that is far from happening. The same goes more Marlon Tapales. I hope he does not have to wait for days to get paid. However, it will not be a big surprise if Tapales does not get his share of the purse immediately and will have to wait for days back in Los Angeles waiting for his money. There?s a precedent, you know. The odds in Tapales not getting paid for days after the fight are far out better that the odds that Mosley will knock?out Pacquiao in round one. Wanna bet on it? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.  |
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