What pressure?
Murad Muhammad downplayed Sunday skepticism over Manny Pacquiao?s December 11 fight with Fahsan 3K Battery of Thailand.
Asked whether he felt any pressure that Pacquiao?s scheduled bout would not continue after a series of failed negotiations with top-ranked fighters, Muhammad shrugged off the negativity.
?I think that?s the price we have to pay for a diamond,? Muhammad said in a phone interview from his room at the EDSA Shangri-La in Mandaluyong City.
?The more expensive the diamond, the more pressure it has to endure. It?s what comes with the territory. From now on, it?s not going to get any lighter. It?s a choice we made.?
Muhammad did not speak of any specific details regarding the Pacquiao-3K Battery fight and said he will reveal all in a news conference on Friday in a still undetermined venue.
If plans do push through for the December 11 bout, the Ring Magazine featherweight champion would have gone 217 days without a professional fight, the most he has gone without a fight in his career.
The last time he spent more time away from the ring was after he fought Agapito Sanchez in November 2001. He didn?t climb the ropes for the next 210 days or until he met Jorge Eliecer Julio in June 2002.
?I enjoy the pressure. I welcome it,? said Muhammad. ?I?ve learned?and it is said in the Holy Book?that first come the difficulties. Pressure comes first before anything good happens.?
Pacquiao?s Thai opponent wasn?t the first name that came out as the Filipino southpaw?s first foe after he drew Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico in a title bout for the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association belts.
The virtual merry-go-round of names went through such marquee names as Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, a rematch with Marquez and proposals to fight top-caliber names from Scotland and Australia.
Pacquiao had flown to Freddie Roach?s Gym in California last August, a move that most people thought meant a fight schedule for Pacquiao had become clear.
Nothing positive from any negotiations apparently came out, fueling rumors that Pacquiao was dissatisfied with Muhammad.
Published reports have alleged that Pacquiao was unhappy with the prize money being dangled him. He is supposed to earn a staggering P28 million in the December fight.
Asked whether he had spoken to Pacquiao, Muhammad, who is observing Ramadan for the first time away from his family, replied, ?I try to allow [Pacquiao?s business manager] Rod Nazario to be the business manager.?
Muhammad had stated that he had spoken to ?men of principle, men who are independent-minded,? who will help back the December bout and make the Pacquiao-3K Battery fight possible.
He will reveal the names also on Friday and promised that the announcement will ?elate those who have been hungry for Pacquiao?s next fight.?
