What happens if Manny Pacquiao suddenly gets injured or disabled in his next ring encounter? God forbids he does not because his fight purse won’t be enough to settle his maturing tax obligations to the US and the Philippine governments. Nobody exactly knows at this time?except his close family and perhaps his financial adviser Michael Koncz?how much is his present net worth. But for sure he will go bankrupt if his current and fixed assets are not enough to cover up his financial obligations which has been reported by BIR and IRS at $68 million. (BIR-$50 million, IRS-$18 million) Read more: This amount translates to about P3 billion at current dollar-peso exchange rate. The question now is, how much is Pacquiao’s unencumbered assets in the Philippines and abroad? Will these assets, when liquefied, be enough to pay off his financial obligations? To some people who are really close to Pacquiao, they know the answer. To some media members who have covered his fights in the past decade, they have a pretty good idea about the number, locations and worth of these properties and many of them would probably say that they are barely enough to settle his tax debts. Inquirer.net reported that “Pacquiao, who won a second term as lawmaker of the lone district of Sarangani Province, had a net worth of P1,770,566,772. His SALN report indicated total assets worth P2,028,566,772 and liabilities worth P258,000,000.” But if the SALN is used as basis for determining his actual assets, it is clear that he will go bankrupt if the US and Philippine government takes ownership of his assets. The bigger question is, what if Pacquiao gets injured in his next fight? Obviously, Pacquiao will go bankrupt and that would be a sad ending of his colorful boxing career. The consequences would be enormous and wide-ranging as it would define his political career and aspirations. In recent years many sports superstars like Pacquiao ended up broke and were forced to file for bankruptcy. It is unthinkable why a very rich sportsman like Pacquiao would blow it all simply because he doesn’t know anything about financial planning and management. A typical example is Mike Tyson, who once dominated heavyweight boxing and he became even more famous for losing his fortune of more than $400 million ?all because of poor financial planning and management. Like Pacquiao, Tyson also had a case with IRS which he reportedly settled for $13 million. He also splurged on luxuries like expensive cars and mansions as he spent his hard earned money like there was no tomorrow. When he filed for bankruptcy , he reportedly claimed debts of over $27 million. Heavyweight champion Leon Spinks is another example of a popular fighter who turned poor and settled in a homeless shelter after amassing millions during his heydays due to flawed business decisions and lack of credible financial advisers. Another heavyweight fighter, Evander Holyfield made millions during his prime but he ended up with his finances in disarray as a result of poor financial planning. But barring unforeseen events, there is still time to put order in Pacquiao’s financial management team. Some of Pacquiao’s colleagues in congress have advised him to hire good financial advisers and lawyers to plan and manage his finances but it seems he is happy with Michael Koncz, his Canadian financial adviser, whom he dispatched earlier reportedly to secure his next fight and to attend to the tax issues with legal advisers and the IRS. The problem with his seeming indifference to the suggestions of his congressional colleagues, is the fact that Pacquiao’s active years in boxing can be cut short by unexpected injury while a retirement plan safety net is not yet in place. Obviously, an unexpected injury that will prevent him from fighting on April 12 as earlier announced, will most likely lead to bankruptcy for the fighting congressman.
