There are all kinds of stories being peddled about Ring Magazine featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao and his future, including reports and press releases by unidentified persons claiming that Pacquiao has fired promoter Murad Muhammad and is a free agent planning to handle his own career.
Clearly, some individuals with selfish interests are working to get Pacquiao to discard the men who helped him get the breaks that made him a star in the international arena so they could sneak in and get a piece of the action. Some of these individuals don?t have a clue about the business of boxing especially in the United States.
It?s easy to complain that Pacquiao, the most exciting fighter in the world in the minds of many including trainer Freddie Roach, hasn?t been able to get a fight since his controversial draw with World Boxing Association/International Boxing Federation champion Juan Manuel Marquez last May. But fights are not made that easily because the kind of money Pacquiao wants ? and deserves we may add ? requires that HBO provides a fight date and puts up the purse. The giant sports network cannot afford to underwrite too many big, high-paying fights in succession because the market cannot sustain them. Besides, Pacquiao is not the only fighter that HBO has on its mind.
In fact, Pacquiao is, for whatever reasons, not even listed in the publicized roster of HBO fighters, which includes Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar de la Hoya, Vernon Forrest, Arturo Gatti, Roy Jones Jr., Vitali Klitschko, Floyd Mayweather, Erik Morales, Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas, all tremendously exciting and talented fighters with a large fan base in the US. Besides these fighters, HBO also carries the fights of Miguel Cotto, Bernardo Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Cory Spinks and several others, which means Pacquiao is in a dogfight for a schedule.
It seems a little unfair to blame Murad and even business manager Rod Nazario, who obviously depends on Murad, to nail down an opponent and a fight date with HBO, for Pacquiao?s inability to land a big fight after the Marquez bout. We must remember that Murad and Top Rank Inc.?s Bob Arum had agreed on a Pacquiao-Morales showdown in September if Pacquiao beat Marquez. For all our passionate protests over the decision, the undeniable fact is that ? for the record at least ? Pacquiao did not win. This effectively sidelined or delayed the Morales fight, which was scheduled for September. Besides, Pacquiao himself complained that he hurt his hand in the Marquez fight, which meant he needed to give his hand time to heal, which effectively scuttled the September date.
It is worth noting that when Pacquiao returned last week he told us that he still had some pain in his left wrist, which meant that he was having problems with his hand. How serious we do not know. Since he couldn?t work out and also felt homesick, perhaps Pacquiao decided to take a break to visit his wife, kids and mother.
When you realize that the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world today, Floyd Mayweather, got only one HBO date this year, you may then begin to understand how difficult it is to get Pacquiao a fight date. These are the realities of the boxing business in a situation where HBO calls the shots. Quite honestly, there is nobody else in their league at the present time. Even the great Don King has blasted HBO because he can?t do a damn thing about how they run the show, except perhaps to get out and look for another TV partner. Pacquiao simply cannot afford to do that.
The talk about firing Murad obviously didn?t sit well with HBO because they believe that Murad still has a valid contract and the possibility of any litigation turns them off. Even Arum and Golden Boy Promotions, who expressed interest in Pacquiao, have indicated they don?t wish to get involved with a fighter who may have legal problems. Pacquiao has told us he would wait for Nazario?s return and discuss future plans and many other important aspects of his career and contracts and even requested us to be present, which we would gladly do but only on condition that Nazario approves of the idea because we believe we have absolutely no right to get involved in what is strictly their business. What we should all do in the meantime is to wait for the discussions between Pacquiao and Nazario, which hopefully will clear up everything and hope that the fight with Gairy St. Clair pushes through because Pacquiao needs a tune-up fight badly besides the $500,000 purse, which he needs to sustain his newfound lifestyle!
