THE legal battle over the promotional rights of Manny Pacquiao is expected to drag until next year, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said recently.
The case is still in court and Top Rank and rival Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) are battling it out for Pacquiao, arguably the world’s most exciting fighter.
The depositions (sworn statements) of Pacquiao and Arum will be taken sometime next month and even that of De La Hoya will also be taken by lawyers from both camps, making it difficult for the Nevada court to issue a ruling on the case in the next couple of months.
“Nothing’s going on right now,” Arum told the Bulletin when asked about the status of the case.
However, Arum is upbeat about his company’s chances in getting the favorable decision.
“We keep winning every battle,” Arum told boxingtalk.net, obviously referring to the two instances when GBP failed to get an injunction to stop Pacquiao’s April 14 fight with Jorge Solis in Texas.
A case was filed when Pacquiao stood firm in his decision to stick with Arum and not with Oscar De La Hoya’s GBP last year although the Filipino puncher did admit that he signed a promotional deal with the Los Angeles-based GBP.
Arum countered that Pacquiao was not in the right frame of mind and was even too groggy to sign a contract since he had just gotten off a 16-hour flight from Manila last September.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, is tentatively set to fly to the US with wife Jinkee and two sons Michael Stephen and Emmanuel Jr. on May 28. To be left behind is eight-month old Mary Divine Grace.
The Pacquiaos want to bring the kids to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
From Florida, they will head back to New York to watch Bobby take on Humberto Soto on June 9 at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden. On the eve of the fight, Manny will receive an award from the Boxing Writers Association of America as 2006’s Fighter of the Year.
They are expected to return on June 11 or 12 and by that time, the identity of Manny’s next foe and the venue of the bout would have already been known.
