MANNY PACQUIAO is open for business again, commercial business, that is.
Hours after arriving from Los Angeles yesterday, the Filipino boxing star met with his corporate backers as well as with prospective sponsors for his proposed fight on Oct. 6 in Vancouver, Canada.
“Manny’s been meeting with sponsors and talking about contract renewals the whole day,” said Jake Joson, one of the fighter’s advisers, who was with Pacquiao the whole day in Makati.
Pacquiao had to shy away from commercial endorsements for months when he decided to run for public office as per election rules.
Since he wasn’t fortunate in his quest to wrest the congressional seat in South Cotabato, Pacquiao is now free to accept as many corporate sponsorships and endorsements as he can.
And though he isn’t short of money, he may have to accept extra work to get back some of the money he spent during the campaign which some quarters estimated at around P140 million,
Pacquiao is under contract with multinational companies the biggest of which is San Miguel Corporation. He is also under contract with Nike, Motolite, Alaxan and Caf? Puro.
Pacquiao left for the US for a vacation with wife Jinkee and sons Michael Stephen and Emmanuel Jr. last June 1.
He brought Jinkee and the two kids to Orlando (Florida), Atlantic City, New York and Los Angeles before flying back home yesterday.
Meanwhile, Top rank chairman Bob Arum said Vancouver is ready to host a Pacquiao fight but “everything’s on hold” pending the outcome of the mediation talks between Arum’s Las Vegas-based promotional outfit and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions (GBP).
So there is really nothing concrete regarding Pacquiao’s next bout. Everything is speculation regarding his opponent and venue.
Arum and his GBP counterparts are scheduled to meet anew Monday (Tuesday in Manila) hoping to reach a compromise over promotional control over Pacquiao. Both are fighting to land Pacquiao who is widely regarded one of boxing’s top attractions.
Pacquiao, 28, was grilled by GBP lawyers for two straight days last week in Los Angeles, while Arum met with GBP executives in the presence of lawyers last Saturday.
