Can Manny Pacquiao beat ringmaster supremo Floyd Mayweather Jr.?
Difficult question to be sure. One must wonder whether Pacman?s aggressive and slashing style would turn into an ineffective buzzsaw against the fleet of foot and hand ?Money May.?
Oh, I am sorry, we have to call the IRS tax problem plagued coming back to boxing fighter ?Money Must? going forward. As in ?Money Must start paying off those liens the nasty taxman has lodged against him and his Las Vegas mansion, for example.
I sincerely cannot say at this time if Megamanny can contend with the unique, refined boxing skills of Mayweather. The fight would certainly be competitive and I am going to leave the analysis by paralysis right there for the moment.
But let?s put the leather boxing gloves to the side. Imagine if the weapons of choice were ballpoint pens and the goal of the game was to see he could sign more conflicting contracts in, let?s say, one business day or week.
Here Pacman would defeat Mayweather or any other boxer on the planet in a landslide of documents filled with legal terms and gibberish.
Pacman?s latest flap over Pinoy broadcast rights to the May 2 bout with Ricky Hatton proves, once again, that the Dynamic Duo of lawyer Franklin Jeng ?The Jackal? Gacal and his faithful charge, Manny, lead the universe when it comes to inking contracts.
In fact, I think the day draws near that, when upon getting ready to affix a signature to a contract, people around the world will find that they are being asked to add their ?Manny Pacquiao? instead of their ?John Hnacock? to a legally binding document.
By the way, this just in to our studio Golden Boy denies any involvement in getting Pacman to sign a competing deal with ABS-CBN which conflicted with his previous deal with Solar Sports. Of course, the Goldens would never Shanghai Manny with a tempting suitcase filled with Dead Presidents and then take him to an LA steakhouse to get a contract signed.
I mean, Oscar De La Hoya and cronies would never do that a second time.
The danger of Manny?s punches has been record for posterity but I am concerned about how we can record just how dangerous Manny is with pen in hand and documents at the ready.
And I wonder how Pacman?s propensity for signing virtually anything shoved in front of him will affect his obvious political ambitions.
What if, for example, his tidal wave of Pinoy popularity sent MP surging into Malacanang and he became not only the spiritual and symbolic leader of his beloved nation but the actual leader of the country?
Imagine the tumult, the chaos, the terror that might be caused.
Pacquiao might sign a hastily concocted order to begin immediate bombing of North Korea the way you and I sign a dinner check.
And ?The Jackal,? who apparently has never seen a contract he didn?t like, would greenlight it.
I?m sure the attorney would figure that he could always advise Pacman to sign an order to start bombing South Korea as well in order to balance things out.
Let me turn serious for a minute.
Yes, Pacman seems to thrive on out of the ring drama. In the past, he has always compartmentalized issues, even boxing issues, and remain focused on his next fight.
But someday a distraction is going to come along which could cause Manny to lose his usual laser focus on the next opponent.
I mean you don?t see happy warrior Hatton in the news, mired in a controversy for signing a deal with rival Sky TV after having a UK TV contract in existence with Setanta do you?
Back to the mercurial Mayweather.
When he wanted out of his boxing deal with Top Rank, he bought his way out after telling Uncle Bob Arum he wanted to get away from his promotional tent.
Arum didn?t like it because he lost what was then his premier cash cow but took the exit money anyway.
Poor Mayweather. He should have tried the Pacquiao Method and signed a competing contract while still under legal obligations to Top Rank.
Come to think of it, Mayweather can learn a lot from Pacquiao.
So could a lot of other boxers and businesspeople
Say you?ve got a binding contract with someone and a rival comes along with more moolah. Do you worry about your prior commitment and possibly resulting lawsuits?
Hell no.
You just pick up your pen and listen for the magic words immortalized by ?The Jackal? whenever someone comes around with a new written offer for Pacman.
?Sign here.?
One you get the hang of it, it’s easier than throwing darts. And much more lucrative, I might add.
