MANNY PACQUIAO has received a two-fight contract that promoter Murad Muhammad wants signed, but the Filipino icon is not about to pull out a pen and sign the document despite the untold riches that it promises.
The contract calls for Pacquiao to face Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico on Feb. 26, 2005 for a whopping purse of $900,000, and meet Erik Morales sometime in late July, this time for an even bigger paycheck of $1.75 million, assuming of course he gets past the crafty Marquez.
The document was even handcarried by his business manager Rod Nazario, who arrived in General Santos City on the eve of Pacquiao?s birthday last Dec. 17. Nazario and boxing associate Gerry Garcia came back to Manila on Saturday afternoon empty-handed.
It appears that Pacquiao is not quite ready to sign, indicating he was not comfortable with a contract that puts together two fights in one document. In his previous fights, it has always been one fight, one contract.
“Two-fight contract ang ibinigay sa akin kaya?t pinag-iisipan ko pa rin hanggang ngayon. Yung laban kay Marquez ay walang problema sa akin pero bakit isinama na pati yung kay Morales?”
“Let?s talk about the Morales fight after I fight Marquez. Isa-isa lang,” said Pacquiao, who turned 26 last week.
The combined $2.650 million for two fights is unheard of this side of the pond, but there seems to be more than meets the eye in the Pacquiao-Muhammad relationship.
It is known in the boxing circles that Pacquiao no longer wants to see Muhammad play a major role in his fights in the US although a source revealed that the hard-hitting lefty remains under contract with the New Jersey-based Muhammad for four more fights starting with the Marquez rematch.
Pacquiao?s refusal to sign the document could mean that he is preparing to end his relationship with Muhammad. Pacquiao showed his displeasure at the American promoter a month ago when he said he planned to terminate his services after Muhammad failed to secure a megabuck fight for the Filipino against Morales.
Muhammad had assured Team Pacquiao that it (Pacquiao-Morales) was already a done deal, but a few days later boxing bigwigs in the US announced that Morales would instead slug it out with one-time Pacquiao knockout victim, Marco Antonio Barrera.
Pacquiao has only fought twice this year, drawing with Marquez in May at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and flattening Fahsan 3K Battery of Thailand last Dec. 11 at The Fort in Taguig.
Last year, Pacquiao strutted his stuff three times against Serikzhan Yeashmanbetov (In Manila), Emmanuel Lucero (in Los angeles) and Barrera (in San Antonio, Texas).
Pacquiao, The Ring magazine featherweight champion, earned R16.8 million in his four-round workout with Fahsan.
