CELEBRATED trainer Freddie Roach is arriving in Manila on Saturday along with the head of Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao?s management team Shelly Finkel and a longtime friend Billy Keane to attend the champion?s star-studded birthday celebration in General Santos City on Sunday.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Standard Today, lawyer Nick Kahn, a member of the Finkel management team, said Roach and Finkel, who are flying over for Pacquiao?s 28th birthday celebration, are looking forward to an opportunity to sit down with the Filipino ring icon.
They are expected to discuss the ramifications of the contractual dispute Pacquiao has stirred between Oscar de la Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum?s Top Rank by signing contracts with both promotional outfits.
Kahn said Finkel and Roach, who is known to exercise a great deal of influence over the Filipino ring idol, could ?hopefully help resolve the problems.?
Finkel, whose contract with Pacquiao lapses on Jan. 31, has said he believes he can help the fighter get out of the current mess he found himself in.
Kahn reiterated the fears expressed earlier by World Boxing Council founding secretary-general Rudy Salud and repeated by Roach himself that because of the lawsuit filed by Golden Boy accusing Arum of tortuous interference in the seven-fight contract De la Hoya signed with Pacquiao in mid-September, he may not be able to fight for some time.
Kahn disclosed that Golden Boy Promotions was waiting for a court date to be set by the Superior Court in Los Angeles and that it could take some time.
?It would be terrible for fight fans as well as for Manny to sit out,? said Khan of Pacquiao, who is the most exciting fighter in the world today. ?Fans want to see him fight.?
A running poll on the Philboxing.com Pacland Web site has fans choosing Golden Boy over Top Rank by a 70 to 20 margin and WBC super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera as the preferred next opponent by a similarly wide margin over undefeated World Boxing Association champion Edwin Valero.
Arum, who announced at the Pacquiao-Erik Morales post-fight press conference that Pacquiao had signed a four-year deal with him, has spoken about a possible Pacquiao-Valero fight at Steve Wynn?s hotel and casino in the gambling haven of Macau.
