KNOWING that his fight schedule for 2005 is going to be littered with landmines, Manny Pacquiao locks horns with Gairy St. Clair of Australia, the World Boxing Organization Intercontinental featherweight champion, in a crucial tuneup bout on December 4 at the Global City in Taguig.
A formal announcement of the blockbuster event will be held sometime next week, starring Pacquiao with promoter Murad Muhammad and the Perth-based St. Clair joining him via phone-patch.
?Manny Pacquiao is coming home to defend his People?s Featherweight championship. We are very ecstatic about this fight,? Muhammad and Pacquiao?s business manager, Rod Nazario, said in a joint statement from the US. ?This is a done deal.?
Pacquiao is said to be getting $500,000 tax-free. Staging the megabuck card is a group that frequently promotes major concerts featuring big-name pop stars and rock bands, such as the recent concert of the American singer Mariah Carey.
Mayor Freddie Tinga of Taguig is also lending a helping hand in the Pacquiao battle the durable St. Clair in the flesh.
?We welcome this event with open arms,? said Tinga.
Curiously, a press release supposedly from Pacquiao coming from General Santos City said the former International Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion broke ties with the United States-based Muhammad on Thursday and declared himself a free agent ?in a bid to redirect his young, but stagnating career to greater heights.?
The press release from Pacquiao?s hometown cited ?numerous breaches? in his existing contract with Muhammad, whose contract with the Filipino champion is supposed to expire on February 2005.
?I am no longer happy at how things are shaping up with my career. I am young, I am healthy and I am at the top of the featherweight division, but I cannot even get a decent fight. Something is wrong somewhere,? Pacquiao said in the press release.
St. Clair, who is originally from Georgetown, Guyana, packs a 35-3-2 win-loss-draw card with 15 knockouts. The 5-4 bomber is coming off an 11th round demolition of Ghanian Theopelus Quaye.
All his three losses were on points and were dealt by former world champions such as Vivian Harris, Leonard Dorin and Diego Corrales.
Pacquaio arrived from Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, but should be on his way back to Los Angeles to resume his training at the Wild Card Gym in Holywood soon.
Pacquiao is expected to grab the limelight as early as February or March next year when he faces Juan Manuel Marquez in a rematch or Erik Morales.
The GenSan southpaw has only fought once this year, and it took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 8, where he battled Marquez to an action-packed 12-round split draw.
Although Pacquiao does not hold a portion of the world featherweight titles, he is regarded by The Ring Magazine, acknowledged as The Bible of Boxing, as the champion in the 126-pound class by virtue of his masterful victory over Marco Antonio Barrera last year at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
