On Thursday at the Marriott Dadeland in Miami, the WBA held a purse bid for the featherweight championship fight between champion Celestino “Pelenchin” Caballero and his mandatory challenger Mikey Garcia. The purse bid was overseen by Gilberto Jesus Mendoza and Aurelio Fiengo with bids coming from both Top Rank and Sampson Boxing.
Top Rank bid $402,000 with dates of July 28 in Los Angeles, August 11 in Atlantic City and July 27 in Las Vegas. However, the winning bid was $440,000 from Sampson Boxing, which plans to stage the fight in either Panama, Los Angeles or Las Vegas on July 28.
“This is the first purse bid we’ve won a fight in which we are totally responsible,” said Sampson Lewkowicz. “It’s ours and we are really happy because we were competing with a large company.”
The fight promises to be an exciting one as Garcia is undefeated and many think he has the tools to be a future champion. Caballero is a volume puncher whose tall frame leaves him throwing punches from awkward angles. He captured the WBA title from Jonathan Barros last year in Argentina.
