Cebu City -- The conflict of the Philippine TV coverage for the De La Hoya-Pacquiao megafight on Dec. 6 had caused the transfer of Rey "Boom-Boom" Bautista's fight, which was originally set under the De La Hoya-Pacquiao card, to the Hatton-Malignaggi event on Nov. 22 at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
To recall, the Philippine TV coverage of the 'Dream Match' between De La Hoya and Pacquiao was one of the ticklish issues during the negotiation of the fight because Pacquiao's MP Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions separately had existing agreements with two different TV outfits in the Philippines, Solar Sports and ABS-CBN.
It appears that Solar Sports, which has a tie-up with broadcasting giant GMA-7, is now locked to air the Dec. 6 show.
"It is imperative that Solar Sports should have the right to air the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight in the Philippines because Manny has a signed contract with Solar Sports," Pacquiao adviser Rex 'Wakee' Salud told PhilBoxing.com earlier. "Otherwise, Pacquiao can get sued, while Golden Boy doesn't have a signed contract with ABS-CBN to air Oscar's shows in the Philippines."
Meanwhile, Bautista, whose fights had been covered by ABS-CBN, has become the odd-man-out in the Dec. 6 show.
"It was a problem so we had to do something about it," said ALA Gym President Michael Aldeguer who broke the news to the media yesterday about the transfer of Bautista's fight to the Hatton-Mallignaggi card.
The well-anticipated Hatton-Malignaggi card on Nov. 22 (Sunday morning, Nov. 23 in Manila) will be aired by ABS-CBN in the Philippines and will now have an added punch to it with the addition of the Bautista fight.
In further development, ALA Gym big boss Antonio L. Aldeguer has revealed that two Americans with good records had been presented to them as Boom-Boom's prospective opponents. "We're choosing the one with the better record and we will formally announce it once everything had been finalized," the elder Aldeguer said.
Meahwhile, Z Gorres, who was originally scheduled for the Nov. 22 card against Puerto Rican Jose Lopez but had to wait for the result of Lopez's fight last Saturday before everything would be finalized, will now headline the Dec. 5 card in Las Vegas. Gorres and Lopez will vie for the WBO Interim Flyweight Crown.
The elder Aldeguer also informed that his boys, together with the trainers, will leave for the U.S. on Oct. 28 and will train at Tony Martin's Gym in Las Vegas.
Comments
Share your thoughts on the above article by Dong Secuya.