NOT EVEN a lawsuit filed by US boxing manager Shelly Finkel in Los Angeles is going to stop kingmaker Wakee Salud from leaving the side of ring icon Manny Pacquiao.
“I got into boxing because I truly love the sport,” said Salud, who steered to the world titles Dodie and Gerry Pe?alosa and Malcolm Tu?acao and is now closely linked with Pacquiao.
Owing to his closeness to Pacquiao, Finkel and Beverly Hills-based lawyers Nicholas Khan and Keith Davidson filed a lawsuit against Salud and Filipino lawyer Franklin Gacal, alleging that the two were behind in Pacquiao’s decision to forge a promotional agreement with ABS-CBN, which is staging his July 2 battle against Oscar Larios.
Salud has denied any wrongdoing and is upbeat about their chances if and when the case is heard in a US court.
To show that he is not backing away from a fight, Salud boarded a Philipine Airlines flight with Gacal in the hopes of ironing out the kinks with Pacquiao’s US management team.
“Manny holds a special place in my heart and I won’t leave him,” said Salud, who will be at ringside when Manny’s younger brother Bobby, clashes with Kevin Kelley of the US on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Salud handles the affairs of Bobby alongside Canadian boxing agent Mike Koncz, who gave Bobby his big break on American soil in 2004.
“I just hope that when I get back to Manila sometime next week, everything will be over and done with. Manny is returning home on the 20th (of June) and I want everything to be peaceful and quiet when he arrives so he could concentrate fully against Larios,” added Salud.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao’s weight has dramatically dropped and according to Roach, the GenSan lefty tipped the scales at 134 lbs after another intense workout at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
“He is focused,” assured Roach.
