ON THE day Manny Pacquiao revealed that he will be facing Mexican Hector Velazquez on Sept. 10 in Los Angeles, sports website ESPN.com reported that the Filipino boxing star accepted an out-of-court settlement of $800,000 (P44.8 million) from his erstwhile promoter Murad Muhammad.
Dan Rafael, formerly the man on the boxing beat for USA Today, wrote in his story that came out in ESPN.com yesterday that Team Pacquiao got $800,000 and promotional freedom from Muhammad.
Contacted last night, Pacquiao declined to make any statement regarding the figure which was made public by ESPN.com although before his story was posted in mannypacquiao.ph (Pacquiao’s unofficial website), there were already threads asking if it was indeed true that the famed fighter agreed to $800,000.
“No comment. Let us just move on,” said Pacquiao, who leaves on Aug. 1 to start training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California. A press conference in Los Angeles formally announcing the doubleheader is being planned for August 4 by Bob Arum of Top Rank.
Pressed for questions upon his arrival from the States last week, Pacquiao said the amount was just good enough to pay his battery of lawyers led by New York litigator Judd Burstein.
The Sept. 10 card will also feature Morales against Zahir Raheem of the US and a victory by the long-armed Mexican will shove him to a lucrative rematch with Pacquiao, assuming of course, Pacquiao gets past Velazquez.
Velazquez, 30, is a 12-year professional and holds a 41-10-2 win-loss-draw card with 30 knockouts.
Pacquiao, 26, parades a 39-3-2 slate with 30 knockouts.
Although he has been stopped four times, Velazquez has vastly improved and in the past few years, the Tijuana native has made it a point to go the full route against topnotch opposition.
Even Bob Arum, whose promotional outfit Top Rank is staging the doubleheader, believes Velazquez is a livewire opponent.
“He (Velazquez) is a tough customer,” Arum told a boxing website.
Under Arum’s plans, Morales and Pacquiao are going to slug it out on Dec. 10 in Las Vegas as a fitting sequel to their sensational duel last March.
Velazquez has faced high-quality foes such as Rocky Juarez, Robbie Peden, Israel Vazquez, Kevin Kelley and ex-world featherweight titlist Guty Espadas Jr., who Velazquez beat a few years ago.
Juarez was the US’ silver medalist during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, while Peden is an Australian puncher who is facing Marco Antonio Barrera on Sept. 17 and Vazquez is the reigning International Boxing Federation superbantam king who frequently spars with Pacquiao.
It had earlier been reported that Kelley and Yodsanan Nanthachai, a former world champ from Thailand, were being seriously considered to square off with Pacquiao but Kelley’s name was taken off the list probably owing to his being 38 years old.
But Velazquez must first prevail over Aldo Valtierra this weekend in Chicago, or else, Arum might look for another rival for Pacquiao.
