WHAT Oscar Dela Hoya did in luring Manny Pacquiao to sign up with his Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) was unethical, a top boxing writer wrote in his column that came out yesterday.
In his column titled, “Oscar should have staked HBO, not Pacquiao,” Kevin Iole of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said that the signing of Pacquiao on Sept. 18 in Los Angeles was not the way things are done properly.
“You know the Golden suitcase. It’s the one De La Hoya filled with $ 250,000 worth of $ 20 bills and took to Los Angeles International Airport one day last summer,” wrote Iole. “He had it with him the day he made (himself look) like Don King and tried to get superfeatherweight Manny Pacquiao to sign a promotional contract by flashing piles of cash.”
GBP is locked in a legal dispute with Bob Arum’s Top Rank over the promotional rights for Pacquiao.
GBP insists that it was the first outfit to ink Pacquiao to a seven-fight deal, but Top Rank counters that Pacquiao had a clause in his fight contract for the Nov. 18 fight with Erik Morales that he is not allowed to enter into any agreement until after the fight is done.
Top Rank also believes that Pacquiao’s contract with GBP is null and void since the coveted GenSan southpaw had just gotten off a trans-Pacific flight from Manila when the boxer was cornered.
“Pacquiao, De La Hoya undoubtedly had to know, loves to gamble. Giving all that loot to a guy who gambles and rips through money as quickly as Pacquiao does flies in the face of all the self-righteous pablum Golden Boy spews about its commitment to boxers and changing the way business in the sports is conducted,” said Iole.
“Had Golden Boy truly cared about the fighter, it wouldn’t have dispatched De La Hoya to the airport with a contract and a suitcase stuffed with cash to stick in Pacquiao’s nose seconds after he got off a 15-hour flight from the Philippines,” said Iole, whose boxing column comes out every Saturday.
“Maybe you meet him at the airport, take him to dinner and set up a meeting for later when he’s rested, refreshed and can negotiate the most important deal of his life with a clear head.”
Iole opined that the timing of GBP was off.
“What you don’t do is ambush him with a contract–and remember, English is Pacquiao’s second language–and try to steal a signature when he had to be bleary-eyed from the long flight,” he wrote.
Iole’s column was published at a time when the camps of GBP and Top Rank are bracing for the first hearing of the case that will either soon be heard in Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
Both parties express the belief that they have strong points in the case as they have tapped the services of topnotch lawyers.
Daniel Petrocelli, who gained prominence in the wrongful death suit against OJ Simpson, will represent Top Rank, while Burt Fields, whose clientele includes Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, will lead the fight for GBP.
