If he is to decide, celebrated American trainer Freddie Roach prefers Golden Boy Promotions over Top Rank Inc. as promoter for Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao mainly because Golden Boy has all the opponents they want for the Filipino ring icon.
“I’m not a lawyer but I believe Golden Boy Promotions owns the promotional rights over Manny because they made Manny sign with them first before Top Rank came up with their offer. And besides, Golden Boy has all the fighters we want to face,” said Roach in a national radio interview.
Roach was referring to a slew of top caliber fighters under the promotional wings of GBP namely Joan Guzman, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera. All the three are raring to challenge Pacquiao.
Roach believes that Top Rank big boss Bob Arum does not have a marquee fighter who can give Pacquiao not only a blockbuster fight, but also a seven-figure fight purse.
“I heard Arum wants Manny to fight Humberto Soto next March in Macau and Soto is not really a popular fighter right now,” said Roach in the same interview.
Shortly after Pacquiao knocked out Erik Morales in the third round to put a stunning closure to their epic trilogy last November 18 in Las Vegas, Arum made a surprise announcement that Pacquiao had signed a four-year contract with Top Rank.
Ironically, Golden Boy of Oscar de la Hoya inked a seven-fight deal with Pacquiao two months ago.
As a result of Arum’s announcement, Golden Boy Promotions filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles Superior Court against Top Rank for “torturous interference of their existing, fully negotiated and executed promotional agreement with Manny Pacquiao”.
De La Hoya is asking for unspecified damages and a court order preventing Arum for doing further promotional work for Pacquiao until the latter has fulfilled his obligations under a purported contract with Golden Boy Promotions.
“This case is but the latest example of the bitter and vindictive campaign being waged by Top Rank Inc. against Golden Boy Promotions,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit charges that Arum’s company, unable to accept that De La Hoya is no longer fighting for Top Rank, and is now running his own promotion company, has “consistently sought to bad-mouth Golden Boy and De La Hoya and has tried every trick in its book, lawful and unlawful, to slow down Golden Boy’s growth and success.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Arum and Top Rank have tried to induce Marco Antonio Barrera, the World Boxing Council super featherweight world champion, to breach a deal with Golden Boy in favor of Top Rank.
