I felt very bad that I could no longer access the archives of Sun.Star that dated between 2001 and 2007. There are more than a handful of articles I had written about Manny Pacquiao that I could no longer access. In those days, we still do not have the iCloud where we can store our documents. I also regretted that I deleted some of my sent emails where these articles were included. I also no longer have access to the hard copies of those stories here in Gensan as its General Santos City edition folded up in 2008. I will have to go through the dusty shelves of Sun.star?s Davao office to retrieve facsimile or duplicate copies. But some of my articles landed in the Forum section of ?PACLAND: The New Pinoy Greats.?
Below is a two-part series on Pacquiao that appeared in the cover story of Sun.Star General Santos Business Weekly in early 2005.
Growing up pains of Manny
By Edwin G. Espejo
This writer finally caught up with Manny Pacquiao over brunch at his modest residence in Barangay Labangal.
The night before, we bumped into each other at Mike Calixto?s Cassado Bar where the Filipino boxing sensation was having a round or two of his favorite San Miguel Beer Lights together with uncle-in-law Chief City Prosecutor Edilderto ?Dick? Jamora.
Manny had just arrived from San Francisco via Manila where he attended ?a very personal business? with his new US-based managers.
It was a meeting that proved to be another turning point in his 10-year boxing career.
A change for good
?I want to change the way things are. A change for the better,? Manny explains on the flurry of legal maneuvers his US-based lawyers were mapping out during the last two weeks before this interview.
Those maneuvers included filing a whooping $33-million lawsuit against his promoter Muhammad Murad and straightening up his tax obligations with the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) of United States.
He declined to issue any statement on the legal suit he had already filed against Murad upon the advice of his lawyers.
But he said he wants to recover whatever money he lost over the last four years when Murad took over as his promoter.
Also, he insisted, he wants to protect other boxers who have fallen into the same predicament he is right now.
His new confidante Clement Asencio, a godbrother (Clement?s father is Manny?s wedding sponsor), told this writer that not a few people had cashed in on Manny?s bankability as a feared and awesome boxer.
Unfortunately, he added, many also made more money than Pacquiao.
US tax obligation
In his complaint, Manny said he was made to believe all his taxes in the US prior to his fight with Mexican boxing idol Erik Morales were already paid by his previous business managers and promoter.
But in the days before his bout with Morales, he was told by a IRS representative that he still owes the US government some S485,000 or roughly P27 million!
Manny admitted that the ?unpaid obligation? was one of the many distractions he had while the General Santos boxing champ was deep into training for his Morales bout.
Manny was made to believe that all his tax obligations were already taken cared of by business manager Rod Nazario and the latter?s US-based son Roberto who put up a shell corporation supposedly tasked to deal with the IRS.
(It was only during his Morales bout that the 30 per cent tax was withheld by the IRS, around $525,000. Previous to that, his shares of the purse which included the tax cuts, were given by Murad to the elder Nazario)
?What (Rod) Nazario showed to the media were checks paid to the lawyers that were supposed to represent the shell corporation that dealt with the IRS. Not the actual tax payments themselves,? Clement explained to me while we were on our way to Manny?s residence.
PPV share
Manny is also suing Murad for leaving him out in the dark over the upside of the Home Box Office (HBO) pay per view revenues.
Although his promotional contract with Muerad did not include a share in PPV earnings, Manny said he and his lawyers are invoking the Muhammad Ali Act where a provision clearly provides that promoters are bound to disclose all earnings of a boxer in any of his bout in the US, including how much the promoter will also earn in return.
In the case of the Pacquiao-Morales bout, the PPV generated 350,000 ?buys?.
At $44.90, the bout collected at least $15 million.
Boxers featured in the main event of every HBO PPV offering gets 40 per cent of the net revenues (after expenses are deducted).
Clement said Morales got his $3 million share the week Manny was in San Francisco to confer with his lawyers.
Murad has been claiming that the ?air-tight? promotional contract he had with Manny does not bind him to pay the Filipino boxer his share in the PPV.
But Clement said Manny has a strong case against Murad on this issue.
So confident is Manny?s legal counsel, top notch lawyer Judd Burstein, that the latter took up the boxer?s case on a contingent basis.
All Manny paid was the acceptance fee which he did not disclose.
Manny also declined to disclose how much Burstein would get in the event that he will win the damage suit he filed against Murad.
The legal travails of Manny
By Edwin G. Espejo
(Second of two parts)
Financial matters
As Manny braces for protracted legal battle with Murad and his previous managers, he is also taking up time to put order to his financial affairs.
Right now, he bared to this writer, he is still personally handling his finances. All disbursements are being made by him and these could by a pesky distraction when he is into training.
Clement said he already advised Manny to get a good financial adviser to handle all his account. Right now, all commercial endorsements he is making are being handled by a Manila-based press relations firm handled by Jake Joson and Eric Pineda. The latest commercial he shot before he left for the US for his fight with Morales was for a detergent product.
This month, he will do a movie where some scenes will be shot here in General Santos.
Manny has lost track of all the money that he earned in the course of his 10-year pro career although he also told me that he had acquired several real estate properties in the city.
(While I was having this interview, he was also busy giving instructions to his house helps who were moving out some home furniture that were to be brought to his farm in Malandag where he raises several fighting cocks).
Manny takes care of even his water and electric bills. He sends some in-laws and siblings to college and has to attend to some fans and strangers who are seeking financial help from him.
Oftentimes generous to a fault, Manny spent over P150,000 for giveaways to neighbors and fans last Christmas. (He reportedly ounce handed out $3,000 to a sports writer after his victory over Marco Antonio Barrera)
In addition, he foots all the bills whenever he goes out to enjoy his hard-earned relaxation. Going around with a coterie of bodyguards and hangers on, such luxury could be taxing to the pockets, too.
Manny confided that he spends a minimum of P20,000 a day whenever he is in General Santos.
He could also be a compulsive buyer.
Upon his arrival from San Francisco last week, he went to a car shop in Manila looking to buy himself a car because he already shipped his Ford Expedition to General Santos.
His wife Jinky?s choice was a Grandis but Manny did not find it fit to his image.
?Gusto ko ?yung macho,? he reportedly told the car dealer?s sales representative.
He was led to the latest edition of Mitsubishi Pajero. After a check at the dashboard panel, Manny decided it was macho enough for him.
He wrote a P2.4 million check and immediately drove the car to his condo unit.
Asked about his profligate spending, Manny was philosophical.
?Kung ano yung naitulong mo babalik din ito bilang biyaya,? he explains.(For whatever help you give, you get graces in return)
Before I left his house, Manny again displayed his generous side by donating his slightly-used personal computer set to the regional office of the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency.
Answer
Manny could hardly express himself when asked about his estranged relationship with business manager Rod Nazario.
He acknowledged the role his business manager played during his early days as a struggling professional boxer.
He said his meeting with Nazario last week was a cordial one and both sides pointed each other?s weaknesses and shortcomings.
The Filipino boxing champ refused to divulge details of their one-on-one meeting but it is clear that Manny is ready to burn bridges if Nazario will not help him out of Murad?s tentacles.
But Nazario had already gone out saying Manny has to choose between him and Manny?s ?new team? led by Shelly Finkel and long-time US trainer Freddie Roach.
Nazario even went to as far as chiding Manny for his ?wayward? attitudes that included gambling, late-night drinking sprees and other vices.
Manny however denied he had degenerated into becoming an irrepressible gambler and a drinking bum.
?Umiinom ako pero kaya kong kontrolin sarili ko,? he told this writer.
Asked how many bottles of beer he could guzzle up in one sitting, Manny replied with an impish smile, ?Kahon-kahon. Pero may mga kasama ako.?
By his own admission, Manny has been drinking beer when not in training. But he said he all intoxicating drinks are off limits once he hit the sandbag for a scheduled bout which normally begins at least six to seven weeks prior to fight night.
?I am a witness to his dedication in training. When he was in Los Angeles, Manny was already in bed by 8 p.m.,? Clement volunteered while sharing a roasted native chicken over Manny?s six-seater dining table.
When the issue on gambling was raised, Manny says it is one way of bidding time.
Some observers however said Manny could go 48 hours for a ?tong-it? session with card buddies. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses.
When asked how much he lost in one gambling spree, he sheepishly declined to answer.
He likewise denied his mind was ?poisoned? by his team.
?Ako ang may kagustuhan (It is my own volition). I want to change the situation,? he emphatically replied.
Groping
Later, Clement told me that Manny, in trying to impress his American handlers, would just nod whenever he no longer understands what was told to him.
It is understandable. Manny only reached Grade 5 before he went on to become a professional boxer exactly on his 16th birthday.
It (his lack of education) was one of the circumstances cited by his lawyer when he filed his complaint against Murad last week.
Nowadays, he relies on his long-time friend lawyer Franklin Gacal Jr. and Clement to discuss all the nuances of his contracts and negotiations with his US-based lawyers.
Both were around when he fought but lost to Eric Morales in Las Vegas last month.
Gacal poured over his new contract with Finkel and find it all in order.
The same could not be said of his contract with Murad however as Gacal has not seen it. Gacal last year told me Manny signed the contract under duress and without the benefit of a lawyer. Not even Dick Jamora, who is Jinky?s uncle, has seen a copy of Manny?s promotional contract with Murad.
Uncertainty
With an impending legal battle ahead, the prospect of Manny fighting this year is now in jeopardy.
Murad could file a counter suit to prevent Manny from fighting.
But Manny said he was already advised by Burstein that his lawyers could go around his live contract and file an injunction against the American promoter.
That issue will have to be settled in court however if Manny intends to fight in an HBO doubleheader featuring him and Morales against separate opponents sometime in July or August.
Given the choice, Manny said he would like to have a rematch against Morales to settle an old score.
By that time, he said, he would have already figured out Morales and expressed confidence he would beat his tormentor.
He just shrugged off Barrera?s claim that a rematch is not the latter?s priority following Manny?s loss to Morales.
?I already beat him. So I am not the one looking for a rematch,? he reasoned out.
Of the possibility of a return bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny readily welcomed it provided it is within the 130-pound weight limit.
?Mahirap magbawas ng timbang. At home na ako sa super featherweight,? he said.
Message
As always, Manny has a ready message to his fans and the Filipino people.
?Maraming salamat sa mga kababayan ko na sumusuporta sa akin at nanonood ng mga laban ko. Ipagdasal niyo lagi na manalo ako sa mga susunod to ka laban. Ito?y para sa inyo at sa bayan,? he said.
He also advised the youth to stay away from drugs and other vices.
Postscript:
Manny won his legal battle with Murad with the latter paying the Filipino champion an undisclosed amount. Murad would later file bankrupcy and is no longer active in fight promotion. Manny went on to beat Erik Morales twice. The rest is now history.
