MANNY PACQUIAO has hired a high profile American lawyer who once sued and won multimillion-dollar settlements from two major boxing promoters, one of them Don King.
By hiring Judd Burstein, Pacquiao hopes to recover some $3 million from the pay-per-view income which he said was claimed by his promoter, Murad Muhammad, who did not disclose this deal before he fought Erik Morales last month.
Burstein, whose clientele includes Lennox Lewis, Julio Cesar Chavez and Shane Mosley, accepted to represent Pacquiao for a fee of $100,000.
“At first, it was actually $250,000,” Pacquiao said yesterday while he was in a motorcade in Laguna. “But I was able to lower it down to $100,000.”
The deal to tap Burstein was reached just before Pacquiao returned home to Manila from Los Angeles last week.
It could not be determined if it?s only Muhammad who?s going to be on the charge sheet although the fighter himself assured his long-time business manager Rod Nazario that his name won?t be included.
Pacquiao has accused Muhammad of shortchanging him.
Pacquiao said he should have been entitled to a share in the pay-per-view revenues from his blockbuster March 19 fight with Erik Morales in Las Vegas.
The PPV generated 350,000 buys amounting to $16 million.
Most notable among Burstein?s adversaries were Don King and Panos Eliades, the former promoter of ex?heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.
Burstein successfully represented former world champions Terry Norris against King.
On February 2002, Burstein made Lewis $7.4 million richer when a federal court judgment ruled in favor of the boxer in a racketeering and fraud charges against Eliades.
Muhammad became Pacquiao?s promoter in 2001 after the New Jersey-based promoter gave him his break on American soil in June when he captured the world super-bantam title in Las Vegas.
The decision to tap Burstein, who is sometimes paid $600 an hour, was done when Pacquiao consulted with his handlers, Shelly Finkel and lawyers Keith Davidson and Nick Khan. ?With reports from Dennis Principe
