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Philippines, 24 Jun 2026 |
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Sampson Lewkowicz: Boxing’s Picasso By Emmanuel Rivera, RRT PhilBoxing.com Wed, 03 Jun 2026  In the fight game, a man’s reputation is either his greatest asset or his heaviest burden. For Sampson Lewkowicz, it has only grown stronger and more special through the decades. Long before the world figured out what Manny Pacquiao would become, Sampson already knew. He was there at the beginning, helping piece together the fights and opportunities that gave Pacquiao solid ground to build on. “Through my work with Manny Pacquiao and my other Filipino world champions, I came to know the Philippines and its great tradition with boxing,” he said. History tends to credit the man throwing the punches and rarely gets around to crediting the man who made the calls, opened the doors, and believed first, when believing still carried real risk. Nowadays, the names on Mr. Lewkowicz’ résumé and his promotional company Sampson Boxing are easy to find— stars like David Benavidez, Sebastian Fundora, Gabriela Fundora, and former Pinoy champions Donnie Nietes, John Riel Casimero, Marvin Sonsona. According to the WBC website, he has helped the careers, one way or another, of the following titlists and contenders: Jaison Rosario, Javier Fortuna, Sultan Ibragimov, Javier Castillejo, Leavander Johnson, Celestino Caballero, Hugo Ruiz, Anselmo Moreno, Michael Katsidis, Chris John, Rafael Concepcion, Krystof Wlodarzyk, Hanna Gabriels, Kina Malpartida, Cecilia Comunalis…and many more. But anyone who knows their boxing will tell you that a list of names only goes so far. What it cannot tell you is whether a man kept his word when keeping it cost him something, or whether the fighters in his corner still trusted him when the cameras were pointed elsewhere. In Sampson’s case, they did, and they still do. I can speak to some of this firsthand. I first met him on July 26, 2003, completely by luck, at press row during a fight card featuring Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao and Emmanuel “Carnicero” Lucero at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The match was a successful title defense of Pacquiao for his IBF World Super Bantamweight Championship belt. I had aspirations of being a reporter back then and was still learning about the fight game, and was there partly in my capacity as the manager for former world champion Luisito Espinosa, who was at ringside looking to make connections for a comeback. Press rows back then had a particular old school energy to them — organized chaos, full of people who had seen enough of the game to have strong opinions about all of it, the kind of setting where you picked things up fast just by staying alert and keeping quiet. Mr. Lewkowicz found us and introduced himself, and we simply talked. Much to our surprise he knew who Espinosa was, and he understood the Filipino boxing tradition going back further than most people in that room, and spoke about it with the ease of someone who had earned that familiarity rather than borrowed it for the occasion. It left an impression on me that twenty-five years have done nothing to diminish. That genuine connection to Filipino boxing runs through everything Sampson has done. He recognized those fighters early, invested in them when the rest of the promotional world was looking elsewhere, and built relationships durable enough to survive the particular pressures this sport puts on everyone involved. When Filipino boxing people talk about Sampson Lewkowicz, the word that keeps coming back is mapagkakatiwalaan — trustworthy — and in boxing that distinction matters enormously. His staying power is not complicated once you understand how he operates. Recently, I respectfully asked Sampson to describe his philosophy. He answered the way he handles most things — simple and direct.  “Always tell the truth,” he said. “Be loyal to the ones loyal to you. Be good to your people and they will go the extra mile for you. There are no shortcuts to building something that will last.” Easy enough to say, but the test is whether a man actually lives by it, and the people who have worked with Sampson across decades and continents will settle that question quickly if you ask them. The fighter at the center of his attention right now is Charly Suarez, a Filipino contender with real ability and a genuine case for feeling wronged. Most ringside observers who watched his recent challenge against Emanuel Navarrete came away believing Suarez had done enough to walk out with the title, and the judges’ decision has not sat well with anyone paying close attention. Rather than quietly regroup and wait for the politics to peter out, Suarez is stepping forward into one of the most ambitious settings of his career, with Sampson beside him and a rematch firmly in his sights.  (L-R) Charly Suarez, Christy Martin and Manuel “Tino” Avila (courtesy of ivB Boxing) “I saw that Charly could use some help landing the rematch he is owed against Navarrete. I also know that Filipino boxers will fight anyone, anytime. That is why Charly is taking this fight in front of his fans in San Francisco. He wants to be the best and sharpest version of himself when we do the rematch.”  That setting is San Francisco, on July 11, 2026, at Civic Center Plaza. Mayor Daniel Lurie is behind it, promoter Ed Pereira is the driving force, and Sampson Boxing leads the way, and veteran Northern California promoter Paco Damian brings the local relationships and hard-won experience that turn big ideas into actual events. The target is the all-time boxing attendance record — one hundred thirty-five thousand, one hundred thirty-two. That is the official live attendance record for a boxing event, Tony Zale and Billy Pryor, Milwaukee, 1941, and it is the kind of audacious goal that either becomes a landmark moment in the sport or a cautionary tale about overreach. Sampson is fully committed to making it happen. “I met a man named Ed Pereira and he asked me to help him put together a very special event in San Francisco,” Sampson said. “He showed me the events he has done in the past and impressed me with his ambition. Plus, I have a very wonderful partner named Paco Damian who has been promoting boxing in Northern California for many years. Together, we are a team planning to do something special for the city and for boxing.” He understands better than most what a night like this can mean for Filipino fight fans, having watched that community show up in remarkable force across multiple countries and multiple generations of fighters. When the subject turned to MMA, bare-knuckle boxing, and everything else competing for the combat sports audience, Sampson did not hedge or qualify his answer. “There will always be boxing,” he said. “You can add kicking and wrestling, you can take away gloves and try other things, but all combat sports are at their best when a boxing match breaks out.” The endearing moniker ‘Picasso’ has followed him for years, drifting through arenas and hotel lobbies and press rows across several continents, and when I asked him why the tag, he answered with his characteristic humility. “I don’t have any say in what people call me,” he said, “but I do appreciate all the love and friendships I have built with so many great people all around the world in my career.” It is the right answer, and without him trying to make it so, a genuinely revealing one. The comparison was never really about abstract genius but about a man who spent decades building something real and lasting — carefully, seriously, with genuine craft — while the years and the fights and the titles came and went around him. The work held up, the relationships held up, and the reputation held up in a sport where very few things do. Belts and titles rotate and records get broken, and promoters cycle in and out of boxing like bad weather, but the fighters who trusted Sampson still trust him. And on July 11, 2026, he will stand in the middle of the Civic Center in San Francisco helping chase a record that most sensible people would have talked themselves out of chasing. That alone tells you something important about who he is and how he has always operated. Pablo Picasso once said the purpose of art is to wash the dust of daily life off our souls. Sampson Lewkowicz never said anything like that, and he didn’t need to. Mr. Lewkowicz just kept showing up, kept his word, and kept placing fighters in positions to become something greater than they were when he first met them…which in boxing is as close to art as it gets.  Ed Pereira and iV Boxing Presents in collaboration with The City of San Francisco, California History in the Making Saturday, July 11, 2026 — Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco, California • Promoters: Sampson Lewkowicz (Sampson Boxing) Lead Promoter • Paco Damian (Paco Presents) • Akihiko Honda (Teiken Promotions) • Felix “Tuto” Zabala Jr. (All Star Boxing Inc.) • Matchmakers: Paco Damian & Christy Martin Featured Bouts: • Anthony Olascuaga vs. Andy Dominguez Velasquez • Yan Marcos vs. Guido Emmanuel Schramm • Charly Suarez vs. Manuel Avila • Gurgen Hovhannisyan vs. Uila Mau’u • Oscar Bonifacino vs. Raul Escudero • Blake Binskin vs. Elijah Smith California State Athletic Commission sanctioned. Acknowledgements: All photos in this article are courtesy of ivB Boxing and Sampson Boxing Promotions. Our very best regards and gratitude to Mr. Sampson Lewkowicz for keeping boxing alive and well. Thanks to Andre Courtemanche, President at Big Media Buzz for the kind and tremendous assist. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Emmanuel Rivera, RRT.  |
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