By Rick Reeno

Promoter and adviser Sampson Lewkowicz is furious with the latest turn of events involving his planned show for September 7th at the Hard Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Lewkowicz was under the impression that he finalized the details for a planned fight between WBA featherweight champion Celestino "Pelenchín" Caballero (36-4, 23KOs) and mandatory challenger Mikey Garcia (28-0, 24KOs). The fight was originally scheduled for July 28th in Indio, California and Telefutura was going to televise.

Two weeks later, Lewkowicz confirmed his intentions to move the event to September 7 at the Hard Rock. And he secured the televised backing of Showtime, who planned to air the fight as part of their ShoBox series.

Initially, Caballero protested Lewkowicz's idea to move the fight to September - and asked the WBA to move the fight back to July 28th - in Panama. The Panamanian boxer had inactivity fears, with his last fight taking place in Japan on December 31. But, Lewkowicz spoke with Caballero several times and made the champion realize that a move to July 28th in Panama would likely kill the fight. Caballero stepped back on his demands and agreed to Lewkowicz's idea for the September date on ShoBox.

However, Lewkowicz stated that Caballero's former adviser/Panamanian promoter Rogelio Espino interfered with his plans by persuading Caballero to change his mind on fighting Garcia in September.

Lewkowicz, who doesn't promote either boxer, secured the rights to stage the fight by winning the WBA's purse bid with a monetary submission of $440,000.

"Rogelio Espino has nothing to do with Caballero. He is the former adviser and promoter of Caballero in Panama. Tomorrow I will hold a press conference in Panama to discuss what happened with Caballero vs. Garcia. I will explore my legal options against Espinso for tortuous interference and defamation of character," Lewkowicz told BoxingScene.com.