MANILA, Philippines — Reporting from the scene, Bob Arum claimed Manny Pacquiao figured splendidly in a case deposition earlier this month.
It was not clear if Pacquiao used an interpreter to give his side on the promotional tussle in which Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions are locked in.
Pacquiao, as Arum saw and heard, was a few points short of magnificent during the deposition.
Sorry, but that was only one side of the story.
The morning after Arum made that glowing claim, a respectable figure also present during Pacquiao’s narration raised a howl.
Applause for the Filipino boxing idol was cut short after Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer said Pacquiao lied through it all.
Schaefer, saying he was terribly disappointed, was aghast at how Pacquiao messed up with the truth.
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A case mediation is in the works involving Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.
Arum had singled out Pacquiao’s next foe, but the wily matchmaker could not make any announcement.
There’s a gag order on both parties.
Okay, Pacquiao was not directly sued by Golden Boy despite having also signed up with Top Rank after earlier inking a seven-fight pact with the group headed by Oscar de la Hoya.
But as things stand, what follows in Pacquiao’s career will not be decided on Arum’s whims.
Pacquiao’s fate lies on how the court will rule on the battle between the rival promotional outfits.
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Of course, there are incurable Pacman fanatics, including blind, willing close-in reporters, who would call it a win-win situation for the RP boxing icon.
In fact, as soon as Pacquiao returned from his latest US sojourn, he again made noise and announced he was ready and raring to make product endorsements.
There’s a problem here, though.
Advertisers can no longer be expected to run and beat one another in hiring Pacquiao to sell their products.
There are those who, unlike before, now think twice before going the Pacman way.
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No, we can’t call this outright disenchantment.
It also has nothing to do with Pacquiao’s decision to shelve earlier plans to take up law now that he’s bent on improving his English with the hope of taking up a business course.
The truth is that there are those who no longer are as crazy as they used to be over Pacquiao.
In short, while they are willing to patronize him despite his faults and misdeeds, not too many fans are willing to play it blind and stupid when it comes to Pacquiao’s questionable values and principles.
However, this definitely is not the case the way Ring Magazine, the bible of boxing, scores the Pacquiao career.
All Pacquiao needs at this point, according to Ring editor Nigel Collins, is win his next fight and he could officially overtake Floyd Mayweather as the magazine’s pound-for-pound king.
In fact, Nigel was profuse with praise for Pacquiao and the way the Filipino superstar never fails to fire up a fight and provide unforgettable entertainment.
Collins, as quoted by Ronnie Nathanielsz, said Mayweather was way behind Pacquiao in this respect.
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Now listen. Collins said he could not understand why many Filipinos have become critical of Pacquiao lately.
Collins noted that, unlike here in the Philippines, Pacquiao’s misadventures outside the boxing ring have not detracted from his popularity in the USA.
“Sometimes Filipinos get too caught up in the periphery of events surrounding Pacquiao and forget what he does in the ring once the bell rings,” Collins noted.
Well, Collins is sure to find great company in the Top Rank big boss.
Just like Arum, Collins can’t seem to find anything wrong with Pacquiao, the idol of countless Filipinos who has also succeeded in projecting his poor countrymen as two-fisted cheats the way he collected and signed up with both Golden Boy and Top Rank.
Who knows? The way Collins wanted Pacquiao blindly adored here, the Ring editor could be trying to export dirty American war values to the Philippines.
