?You can?t slay my good name! I have a looonnng track record of producing the IM-possible! It?s about in-GEN-ooooo-uity! CON-tin-ooooo-ity! Sin-CERE-ity! CEO?s and company PRES-idents know the integriteee of Murad Muhammad! My father taught me, he said a good name is better than GOLD . . . .?
Promoter Murad Muhammad talks enough to make Don King appear mute.
Actually, that wouldn?t be a bad idea: a verbal showdown, a war of words, between Muhummad and King, although you?d have to limit it to four rounds and get someone physically bigger than Jay Nady to ref it, or else you?d be there all night, hoping and praying for a break in the action.
It wouldn?t happen, anyway, for Muhammad has no beef with King.
Nor does he have a beef with Bob Arum, who is the lead promoter for Saturday?s Pay-Per-View card headlining Muhammad?s fighter, Manny Pacquiao (39-2-2, 31 KOs), vs. Top Rank superstar Erik Morales (47-2, 34 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Muhammad doesn?t have a problem with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, either, even after they ruled in favor of the Morales camp last week, proclaiming that Pacquiao would have to wear Winning gloves instead of his preferred Reyes brand, the glove of choice for punchers.
Muhammad does, however, have a beef with his fighter?s trainer, Freddie Roach.
It?s a feud that has gone on since Pacquiao?s shocking victory over Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003.
It was after that big win that, after being asked by Pacquiao to help out, Roach looked into financial matters surrounding the fight. There were contractual discrepancies. There were accusations. It was ugly. No one?s quite sure who made what, who was supposed to make what, but things were ironed out. Kinda, sorta.
But things aren?t 100% rosy in PacLand . . . .
Muhammad entered the picture in 2001 when he signed on as Pacquiao?s promoter.
To be fair, you could also say that Pacquiao was the one who signed on?as Muhammad?s fighter, because before that first fight under Muhammad, Pacquiao was a virtual no-name boxer.
In that first fight?his first in the US.?Pacquiao was a late sub for IBF Super Bantamweight champ Lehlo Ledwaba. It was supposed to be a routine title defense, but Pacquiao stunned the crowd by pounding Ledwaba to the canvas three times before the sixth-round stoppage.
?Ledwaba was supposed to beat on us, then knock us out,? says Muhammad. ?But Manny broke the champion?that was the first miracle . . .?
According to Muhammad, Pacquiao?s rise to Pay-Per-View status is nothing less than miracle?and without him, it simply would not have happened.
After Ledwaba, Pacquiao took the right fights to move him up the ladder of stardom. Muhammad worried less about money and more about exposure.
?If someone asked for six, I?d take it for three,? says Muhammad. ?Offer us three? I?d say we?ll do it for one. I?d get reasonable money?but it was exposure. Not short end money.?
Pacquiao defended against Jorge Eliecer Julio, TKO?ing him in the 2nd; he fought twice more in the Philippines, a 1st round KO and a 5th round TKO; he destroyed Emmanuel Lucero in the 3rd.
Then, in November 2003, he took on featherweight king Marco Antonio Barrera.
?Roach said it was a bad fight, but I wanted it,? says Muhammad. ?Pacquiao wanted it?and, in my book, if a fighter wants something, you get it.?
The gamble paid off and after stopping Barrera in the 11th, Manny ?the Destroyer? Pacquiao was a big, big name in boxing.
A possible title fight against 122-pound champ Oscar Larios was talked about, but Muhammad wanted bigger fights, and bigger paydays. (?What?s the difference between a fighter like Oscar Larios and Erik Morales?? he asks. ?One-point-two-five million.?)
Says Muhammad:
?We wanted Mexico?s ?Three Musketeers?. Marco Antonio Barrera. Erik Morales. Juan Manuel Marquez. All three of them, monsters, although we?d just beaten on one of ?em.
?To get to Morales, we would?ve had to campaign for it. I knew, the only way we could get Morales was to go through Marquez. So, I threw Bob [Arum] a carrot. I put my pride in my pocket and agreed to share my date on HBO and fight Marquez. I told Manny, ?This is what we need to do to get to the man we want?Erik Morales.??
The plan worked?more or less.
There were a couple problems.
One was the outcome of the Marquez vs. Pacquiao fight.
?We won the fight but lost it on addition,? Muhammad recalls, referring to the 10-7 score one judge had for the first round?a round in which Marquez went down three times. (The other two judges scored it 10-6; if that judge had scored it likewise, the ultimate decision would?ve gone to Pacquiao rather than the draw it was declared.)
?People don?t know that Manny fought that fight with an injured ankle and a hurt hand,? says Muhammad. ?His hand was so bad, it looked like a balloon when he pulled it out of his glove.?
Even with the draw, there was still a possible showdown against Morales in the works?but that was no longer an option with Pacquiao?s injuries.
?HBO doesn?t wait for you,? Muhammad says. ?We had to pass.?
It wasn?t until December that Pacquiao returned to the ring, fighting a tune-up in the Philippines against former flyweight champ 3K Battery, stopping him in the 4th after four knockdowns.
By then, Pacquiao?s team was getting antsy for a major fight in the U.S. But soon into the new year, Muhammad was trying to close a February 27th fight on HBO with a rematch against Marquez.
?But Marquez does not know the market,? says Muhammad. ?He figured he was worth seven figures?but it wasn?t there. We offered him 750,000?the same as Pacquiao agreed to fight for.
?That fight was off and the old fox [Arum] was sitting there puzzled, not being able to give us Marquez. So, we did the something even greater?we got Erik Morales.?
Pacquiao?s purse went from the $50K he got for Ledwaba in 2001 to $500K he made against Barrera, to $750K against Marquez last year to the $1.75 million he will be getting Saturday night to fight Morales.
?No one can tell me that I haven?t produced,? Muhammad says. ?Pacquiao is an international superstar. And when he beats Morales, he?ll be a millionaire, Pay-Per-View superstar. But what is it I?m hearing? I?m hearing Freddie Roach criticizing me for agreeing on Morales? brand of gloves!?
In the past, Pacquiao?s chosen brand has always been Cleto Reyes, which has less padding than the Winning brand.
?With all due respect, these gloves are insignificant. We?re gonna beat Erik Morales whether it?s Everlast or Reyes or Winning?and I like that name because it compliments what we?re going to do on the 19th. Maybe Freddie ought to be more concerned about how he wraps Manny?s hands than what gloves he puts on.
?I called my good friend Gil Clancy. He said, ?What is the problem?? I said, ?I have my team saying Winning gloves is not acceptable because it has too much padding and doesn?t favor punchers.? He said, ?Well, on a scale of one to ten, where is Pacquiao?? I told him, ?Ten.? ?And Morales?? ?Six.? ?Well, consider yourself lucky. You?ve just reduced Morales to a three and Pacquiao to a six-and-a-half. Why are they complaining???
According to Muhammad, all the dissension in PacLand points to one source: trainer Freddie Roach.
?If legendary trainer Eddie Futch was alive, he?d smack Roach,? says Muhammad. ?You do not poison the mind of your boxer. You have nothing to do with who and where he will fight. Remember, Freddie did not want Barrera. He said we were not ready for him.
?So, why is Freddie Roach angry with Murad Muhammad? He uses the word ?thief,? but he has no ground to stand on. I was investigated by the FBI and I came out clean under their close scrutiny?so, who is Freddie Roach? He may be a great trainer, but that does not make him a rocket scientist. It definitely does not make him a businessman or a promoter. That is not an insult, it is a fact.?
Roach has told the press that, he has acted on Pacquiao?s behalf only because his fighter had asked him to. But now, Roach focuses only on training because Pacquiao has signed a management deal with Shelly Finkel.
The question of Pacquiao ending his relationship with Muhammad has also been brought up?but the promoter says that is a dead issue.
?I have a tight, strong contract with my fighter,? says Muhammad. ?We have big plans that will make Manny an international Pay-Per-View superstar. But that takes time?Bernard Hopkins is no PPV fighter, but Oscar De La Hoya is. Erik Morales is. You don?t become one overnight, but you build him up, like I?ve been doing with Pacquiao.
?And after Saturday, Manny Pacquiao will not only be a winner but a millionaire. After Morales, then Marco Antonio Barrera is the fight. Of course, we will beat him again, then give Juan Manual Marquez a rematch to clear the air. After that, Pacquaio will be the hottest commodity in boxing.
?My father always said, money is not important. But a man?s word is gold, and I have deee-livered . . . .? # # #
