Despite Bob Arum?s complete denial of the swirling rumors that Manny Pacquaio wants to find a way out of his October 6 fight with Marco Antonio Barrera, a Filipino source who can accurately be described as being one of Pacman?s trusted advisers tells Boxingconfidential.com that the Top Rank bossman?s words are misleading.
?Manny is hurting from what he sees as an unfair division of the spoils for this fight,? the inside Pinoy source said. ?He and his lawyer, The Jackal (proper name Jeng Gacal), are trying to figure out a way out of the whole situation. Manny feels he is being exploited by Top Rank now that Arum is back in bed with Golden Boy. Manny and Gacal think that Arum is looking to pay his huge legal bills from the dispute with Oscar de la Hoya and his company with money that would otherwise go into Manny?s pot.?
The insider said that Manny looks at his supposed purse of $6 million and thinks that it pales in comparison, for example, to the $8 million guarantee that Ricky Hatton is getting for his Dec. 8 Las Vegas fight with also unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Asked if he thought people in Mexican legend Barrera?s camp and the World Boxing Council were wrong to describe the rumors as having a basis in fact, the Pinoy personality said, ?Hell, no. What is the old expression, where there is smoke, there is ire. And there is plenty of ire in the Pacquaio camp.?
This member of the “innner circle” said that Pacman will really start rattling his co-promoter’s chains once he lands in Los Angeles (Sept. 22) to finish up training at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym.
Boxingconfidential.com has also been informed that Pacman adviser Michael Koncz, who is extremely close to Arum, is not in the Philippines at this time. Koncz is from Canada and has lived in the Orange County area.
?The only boxing heads talking directly to Manny in person each day are Roach and Gacal. And both of them do not have Bob Arum posters above their beds. Roach?s alienation with Top Rank and love for Golden Boy (he trained de la Hoya for the Mayweather fight) is well-known and the attorney is still steamed because Arum keeps knocking him for causing the legal dispute with GBP. Arum blames Gacal for Manny having signed with GBP. Roach, meanwhile, can?t forget that Arum cleverly used his then colleague, Justin Fortune, to back stab Roach.?
Sounds to me like this boxing barbecue is just heating up, folks?
