LUISITO’S HOMECOMING
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 18 Oct 2005
I am sure there will be no motorcade or grand welcoming party when Luisito Espinosa comes home from America this month to be present at the October 29 benefit boxing event at the San Andres Civic and Sports Center in Manila.
The boxing event, called “Fight for Love,” is intended to raise funds for his legal battle to collect his purse from a world title fight held nine years ago.
But I am certain that Luisito will find out that while the usual throng that mob world champions during their prime will no longer be around, he will come home to the loving embrace of people who genuinely care for him.
Luisito is coming home and he is deeply touched by the efforts to support his nine year battle to collect $150,000 roughly P8.4 million which he was supposed to receive in his fight against Argentina’s Carlos Rios in Koronadal City, South Cotabato on December 6, 1996.
The principal respondent to the case is the former business manager of Manny Pacquiao, Rodolfo Nazario, whose wife happens to be a Supreme Court justice. The case is pending before a Manila City Court and has remained undecided over the last nine years.
Joe Robles, a Fil-American policeman in San Francisco who now acts as Luisito’s manager, said that he is working on Espinosa’s immigration requirements for him to be able to come home and return to America afterwards.
Joe Robles is in the Philippines right now and is temporarily based in Cebu City. He created quite a stir when they recently scheduled a fight for Luisito which was disapproved by the California Boxing Commission.
When I talked to him yesterday, Joe sounded very happy realizing that Luisito still has loyal friends in the Philippines.
The plan to help Luisito came about following a conversation I had with Louie’s former manager, Hermie Rivera, Immigration Commissioner Al Fernandez and columnist Recah Trinidad.
Soon after, Mayor Lito Atienza came forward to declare full support and sponsor the October 29 activity along with Manila Congressman Mike Roces. The Mayor of Manila has pledged not to impose a 30 percent amusement tax on the ticket sales.
Not to be outdone, Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Eric Buhain, in a meeting yesterday, told me that he would work for the lifting of the mandatory 5% tax on the ticket sales of the boxing event as a gesture of GAB’s support to Espinosa.
All ticket sales will go to a fund that Luisito could use in his legal battle and if all the tickets are sold out, it could amount to about P500,000. It’s not much when you compare it to the staggering amount of money Manny Pacquiao now receives every time he fights.
But it is not the amount that matters.
This event is meaningful because it shows that Filipino boxing fans still remember the heroism of Luisito Espinosa and that they are thankful for the many happy moments he gave the Filipino nation.
Luisito will feel real love in his homecoming.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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