I am keeping my finger crossed over the plan of Charly Suarez’s camp to import Mexican Emmanuel Navarrete this December.
You see, Suarez has convinced his benefactor, Ilocos political kingpin Chavit Singson, to bankroll that fight.
Singson, who has taken over Suarez’s affairs so he could expedite his crack at a world crown, is willing to cough up a hefty amount to ensure that the Filipino fighter maximizes his chances of winning.
But bringing over an established star would entail a lot of money.
Case in point is the recent world championship fight starring defending champion Melvin Jerusalem against mandatory challenger Luis Castillo of Mexico.
Castillo is nowhere near Navarrete’s caliber and popularity but MP Promotions had to spend way more than what was acceptable.
In fact, Castillo earned more than Jerusalem, proof that staging a world title fight involving a foreign foe would require a lot of financial muscle.
Good thing that Jerusalem pulled it off and managed to keep the title belt at home.
As for Suarez’s proposed title try, Navarrete’s prize money would be even bigger.
Making it complicated is that Singson has to convince Top Rank — which promotes Navarrete — to allow the long-armed Mexican to travel to Asia and defend on hostile ground.
That alone tells us that Singson will have to come up with an offer that Arum could not refuse.
Still, Singson has the capacity to get the job done.
But it’s not going to be easy.
Actually, Singson and Suarez are both on the same page on this bold move.
“What we would like is for that fight to take place in the country,” Singson said a few days back.
“If they want a second fight — regardless of the outcome of the first fight — we are more than willing to travel to America to fight again. They can choose the venue for the second fight and it doesn’t matter to us as long as we do the first fight in Manila,” Singson said.
The targeted venue is the Smart Araneta Coliseum, according to Singson.
Suarez and his lead trainer Delfin Boholst are tickled pink by the prospects of facing Navarrete on home soil.
I guess, like me, they are also keeping their fingers crossed knowing the tremendous odds.
In the meantime, we have no choice but to wait.
Pretty soon, we should know if that offer is indeed mouthwatering enough or not.
Again, here’s hoping Singson scores a huge knockout in favor of Philippine boxing.