CEBU CITY ? American promoter Sampson Lewkowicz has hired the services of a Filipino lawyer as he readies lawsuits against trainer and boxing manager Raides 'Nonoy' Neri, the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) chairman Juan Ramon Guanzon and possibly matchmaker Joven Jimenez. Lewkowicz was in town after attending the WBC convention in Beijing during the week and held a wide ranging talk with a group of Cebu journalists at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Lahug Saturday afternoon.
Lewkowicz said he will sue Neri for defamation and damaging his integrity as a promoter after Neri called him a ?pirate and other stuff? after Lewkowicz signed Jonel Dapidran, the cousin of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, to a promotional contract in August of 2015. Neri had 4-year manager-boxer contract with Dapidran that Dapidran signed on November 11, 2014 and was approved by GAB chairman Ramon Guanzon on February 23, 2015. Lewkowicz, and his lawyer Manuel Zosa III who was also present Saturday, maintained that the contract was unenforceable because Dapidran signed it without the consent of his parents, Dapidran being only 16 years old at that time.
Zosa said they had filed a motion at the GAB office last Oct. 30 to nullify the contract and are waiting for GAB's response. Zosa said if the GAB will not respond, they will file administrative charges against Guanzon at the office of the Ombudsman for dereliction of duty. ?The GAB has the data of both the boxer and the manager who executed the contract because they issued their licenses so they should know that one of the parties was a minor,? Zosa said. And to approve such a contract was a clear case of ?not being diligent of their duties or they just put a blind eye on it.?
Lewkowicz also said they are looking into the possibility of including matchmaker Joven Jimenez to the lawsuit because he was the one who had Dapidran signed the manager-boxer contract in the absence of Neri and in the absence of Dapidran's parents.
Lewkowicz also said that Dapidran's contract with him, which had the consent and signatures of Dapidran's parents, will be automatically voided by Jan. 26, 2016, a day after Jonel's 18th birthday according to US laws. ?And Jonel will have to sign a new contract with me, as an adult, if he wants to continue working with me... if I'm not doing a bad job as his promoter,? Lewkowicz said.
Dapidran (6-0-0, 3KO) is currently working out in Las Vegas and will be back in the Philippines during the Christmas holidays. ?And then he will return back to the US in January to continue his training. I know he has a bright future,? Lewkowicz said.
Photo (L-R): Filipino promoter Samson Gello-ani, American promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and lawyer Manuel Zosa III at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Lahug Saturday afternoon.
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