FILIPINO ring idol Manny Pacquiao buckled down to talking business a day after his lavish 28th birthday celebration, his daughter’s christening and the blessing of his mansion in General Santos City, but in the end, decided to adopt a wait and see attitude.
Viva Sports/Standard Today learned that Pacquiao met yesterday afternoon with the head of his management team Shelly Finkel, trainer Freddie Roach and Joe Ramos and after discussing his contractual situation and his future fights, Pacquiao decided not to make any decision at this time.
Finkel, who was returning to the United States last night, told Standard Today that all Pacquiao “wanted to do was to enjoy his birthday, which we all did.” Finkel added that Pacquiao promised he would let him know his decisions sometime this week.
“At that point, I will know what to do,” said Finkel.
“I think Pacquiao is digesting what everyone’s told him. He knows what to do and I think he’ll make the right decision,” added Finkel, who was confident he could handle the contractual problems of the Filipino champ “if he does what he needs to do.”
But Pacquiao has to renew his contract with Finkel first, before the American manager can do his thing.
Finkel and Roach had earlier met with Pacquiao’s lawyer Franklin “Jing” Gacal and Rex “Wakee” Salud,who appeared to be back in Pacquiao’s inner circle and reportedly discussed the legal battle between Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank and a possible fight with World Boxing Council super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera in March.
They also discussed the possible renewal of Finkel’s contract, which expires on Jan. 31, 2007.
Finkel indicated he was very confident that Top Rank had no chance to win the case for the right to promote Pacquiao’s fight and said he could arrange the Barrera fight despite the pending lawsuits.
In fact, Finkel is reported to have asked Gacal and Salud to go to Los Angeles on Jan. 2 to meet with Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer.
But it seems that with Pacquiao’s decision to wait and see, what will happen in the legal battle between Golden Boy and Top Rank, everything is put on hold.
Viva Sports/Standard Today learned that as a result, Golden Boy will move to finalize a title fight between Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez on March 11, which was a date set aside for the much-awaited re-match between Pacquiao and Barrera.
Meantime, in an ongoing poll on the Manny Pacquiao Web site, 74.7 percent have shown their preference for Barrera as his next opponent, with 11.6 percent picking Marquez, while 70 percent have indicated they prefer that Pacquiao goes with Golden Boy, with 19.1 percent indicating their choice was Top Rank.
