Commentary: Rey Loreto unpayed purse

If Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be getting the highest paycheck for their mega-fight on May 2, expected to generate USD 200M. But Filipino light flyweight titlist Rey Loreto is still unpaid for his USD 42,000 purse in his title defense.

Loreto (20-13, 12 KO’s) successfully defended his title against Nkosinathi Joyi in a rematch in Joyi’s home turf at the Mdantsane Indoor Centre in East London, South Africa on March 22, 2015.

Unfortunately, up to this writing, the African promoter was still unable to pay Loreto’s purse.

“Reigning International Boxing Organization (IBO) world junior flyweight champion Rey “Hitman” Loreto is now back home in Davao City but has not yet been paid of his purse – a $42,000 for successfully defending his title in South Africa last March 24.”, writes Lito De los Reyes of Philboxing.com.

The first bout was also in the same arena; Loreto scored a highlight reel knockout victory over African Joyi. The then champion Joyi was very popular in his home country.

In the rematch, Joyi (24-4, 17 KO’s) is expected to regain his title from the ill-prepared Loreto. But Joyi was brutally knocked out at 1:46 mark in Round 1.

Earlier, I wrote a commentary about the reported condition of Loreto prior to the fight. Loreto underwent appendectomy procedure. Appendectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the appendix to cure appendicitis.

The fight happened on March 22. And Loreto was operated on Feb 6.

In my calculation, Loreto fought Joyi 45 days after the surgical operation. This raised the red flag.

According to Healthonline.com,“it takes about four to six weeks to fully recover”.
But Loreto agreed to risk not only his title but his health with money as the main motivation.

“Hindi pa kasi tapos yun pinapagawa kong bahay sa Calinan. Yung premyo ko po sana ang gagamitin ko para matapos na ang bahay namin,” said Loreto.

Even if a boxer is 100% healthy, he still put his health at risk because boxing is a contact sport. Loreto’s condition at that time was pretty bad. Luckily he pulled out an early stoppage. But if he did not, I doubt if he will last up to five rounds.

The guy was too motivated to finish his dream house for his family. I can relate to that because my dream house is not yet finish. And I’m putting all my efforts to finance and finish it up.

But in Loreto’s case, it’s so unfortunate and I feel bad about it. He tried to risk it all, but until now he was not paid.