When our great compatriot Pancho Villa (Francisco Guilledo) wowed American fans and ruled the world flyweight class in the mid-20?s, he probably did not earn even the equivalent of the kind of money Manny Pacquiao is getting now.
However, he was just as celebrated and it?s said he also knew how to celebrate. Perhaps he didn?t have the kind of bank account Manny has, but he got to know the good life in the States.
He was also more fortunate in the sense that there were no governing/sanctioning bodies demanding a take from his purses even when they (the governing bodies) had nothing to do with his fight.
Villa, who like Pacquiao similarly mesmerized the world with his whirlwind speed and knock-out power, was also known to party as hard as he fought. Unfortunately his reign was tragically ended by an abscessed tooth that did him in a few days after his fight with Jimmy McLarnin in 1925.
And now a festering situation is creating quite a stir in the training camp of the Filipino sensation, which is in the thick of preparations for the grandest test of his illustrious career ever.
Jose Sulaiman, the ageless ruler of the World Boxing Council, one of the numerous alphabet organizations purportedly governing professional boxing, had previously decreed that the fight between Pacquiao and multi-titled Oscar De La Hoya to be a “fraud”, presumably not worthy of even a second look by the WBC.
Alas, the sweet smell of cold cash was enough to catch his attention as Don King, a promoter who has nothing to do with the fight, came up with the information (from where or whom, nobody seems to know) that the Pacman stands to earn something in the vicinity of M.
Cash register bells started ringing, and the WBC now demands a staggering 0,000 take from Pacquiao?s purse from a fight the organization is not even sanctioning. Add to this a statement of dismay from Sulaiman who says he feels that the WBC is being disrespected because it has not been included in the accounting.
It seems that the WBC feels that since Pacquiao holds the WBC light weight crown, even if he is fighting in the welterweight class, it feels it is entitled to a sanction fee all because he happens to be a WBC champion.
So what?s going to stop Sulaiman from seeking a commission from all other income Pacquiao the champion earns from endorsements, record deals, movies, building rentals and TV appearances since he is identified as a WBC world champion wherever he goes?
Is that how it?s supposed to work?
Speaking to long-time boxing man cum broadcaster Hermie Rivera yesterday by overseas phone, we got a mouthful from the guy who is known to shoot straight, no matter who gets in the way of his double-barreled explosions.
Rivera suspects there are those in the Pacquiao camp who may have been shooting their trap without the necessary information or knowledge of how things work, and it now jeopardizes our boy?s financial position not to mention the possibility of it distracting Manny from his frenzied preparations.
“That?s what?s unfortunate with the whole situation. Manny is so trusting that he takes everything he hears from people around him as gospel truth until things get out of hand,” rues the former manager of world champions who has now taken on the role of a devil?s advocate in the Pacquiao team.
Rivera sets the record straight: “it?s the promoter who invites an organization like the WBC to come in and sanction a fight and therefore puts itself under the jurisdiction of the organization. In such an arrangement, the boxer, through the promoter, becomes liable for whatever fees are levied by the body. So how can the WBC insist on a share of Manny?s purse in a fight that they are not only uninvited, but which their president himself has assailed as a fraud”
Indeed the story line is as convoluted and inane as a poorly-written B movie plot that would not merit a play date in the seediest movie theatre in the remotest town in the universe.
One thing sure ? the people concerned in boxing know a cash cow when they see one ?their champion, their pride, their source of easy money.
Sometimes we can?t help wishing an abscessed tooth on some people.
