The right to host the ‘World Cup’ of boxing is now a toss-up between the Philippines and Sacramento, California. Although nothing official has yet been announced, the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California is now on the running as a possible venue for the August 11 World Cup of boxing which will pit Mexican champions against Filipino challengers. In a press release sent to the media earlier this week, which lined up all the activities being readied by the Golden Boy Promotions, the August 11 event in Sacramento has already been mentioned, which will be headlined by the WBO super bantam title defense of Daniel Ponce De Leon against mandatory challenger Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista. Although nothing official has yet been confirmed, also included in the card is former Olympian Vicente Escobedo, who is now training at the Romanza Gym under the world-renowned trainer Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Beristain and Miguel Roman, an undefeated Mexican superbantamweight. WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez will also most likely end up fighting in the card possibly against Gerry Penalosa. Gonzalez was originally slated to defend against Jose Navarro on July 21, but both camps reportedly could not agree on the financial aspect of the fight. Top Filipino promoter Sammy Gello-ani, however, remains confident that the World Cup will still end up being staged in the Philippines, as he continues to hold talks with possible corporate and television backers who can help stage the event. “Right now, everything is still up to be worked out. Nothing is definite, and we are just working on the details on which is the best option for us to hold the event,” Gello-ani stressed in an interview yesterday. GBP vice-president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez also informed in an email yesterday that indeed, everything is not yet official as to the final venue of the card. The GBP calendar fires off with the mammoth July 21 card dubbed ‘Coming to Fight’ featuring two of the biggest names in Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins taking on Winky Wright. Also in the card is the WBC interim featherweight clash between Oscar Larios and Jorge Linares. On August 4, Rafael Marquez will defend his WBC superbantam crown against Israel Vasquez in a rematch of their March 3 scorcher. Then on September 15, Juan Manuel Marquez returns to defend his WBC super-featherweight crown against Marco Antonio Barrera or Jorge Barrios.
