RING Magazine featherweight king Manny Pacquiao yesterday announced that he has filed through his US lawyers a case against promoter Murad Muhammad and M&M Sports, Inc. in a New York court for allegedly withholding the Filipino’s earnings from fights.
This confirmed what Pacquiao had told members of the media in Cebu City the other day that his American lawyers have already completed the necessary paperwork, which also accused Rod and Roberto Nazario of conspiring with Murad, although the two Filipino business managers were not included in the charge sheet.
“The papers are complete, but I don’t want to comment based on the advice of my lawyers,” Pacquiao told the Inquirer in Filipino.
The lawsuit alleged that Muhammad had conspired with the Nazarios to divert a percentage of Pacquiao’s purses to a shell company that left the boxer with unsettled accounts with the Internal Revenue Service.
The complaint added that the disadvantageous arrangement among M&M Sports, Muhammad and the business managers resulted in their agreeing to purses for Pacquiao that were significantly below market.
In essence, the business managers allegedly made more money by stealing 30 percent or more from Pacquiao’s purses than they would have earned from a straight 10-percent fee on properly negotiated purses.
According to the complaint, this scheme against Pacquiao was furthered by M&M Sports’ refusal to provide the Filipino champ the disclosures to which he is entitled by the Muhammad Ali Act.
Cheated
“It has taken me awhile to come to terms with the fact that I have been cheated by people whom I trusted,” Pacquiao stated in the lawsuit, copies of which were released to the media. “I intend to see this suit to the bitter end so that I can recover every dollar that was stolen from me, as well as help protect other fighters from being taken advantage of by Mr. Muhammad.”
“As for the immediate future, my fans can rest assured that I will be fighting soon, but not with Murad Muhammad or M&M Sports as my promoter. As of today, I have instructed my new management to begin negotiating for my next fight and fights thereafter. I will never fight again for Murad Muhammad and M&M Sports,” Pacquiao said.
Judd Burstein of Judd Burstein, P.C., a New York firm, and Keith Davidson of Davidson & Associates, P.L.C. of Beverly Hills, filed the suit in behalf of Pacquiao. Davidson is part of Pacquiao’s new management team, which also includes Shelly Finkel and Nick Khan.
“The complaint we filed today is just a first salvo, fired with only limited available information. If the discovery process in the case proceeds as I expect it will, we will be amending the complaint by adding extensive new factual allegations and a likely claim under the federal racketeering law,” Burstein stated.
Pacquiao is also fighting to recover his 40-percent share in the pay-per-view proceeds from his recent bout against Erik Morales of Mexico, which Muhammad claimed for himself.
Meanwhile, Murad Muhammad angrily reacted to the case filed by Pacquiao against him, calling it a conspiracy to topple him from controlling Pacquiao’s affairs.
In a related development, North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Pi?ol, who has recently made a deal with Muhammad to boost WBC No. 5 Prince Gabi’s career, yesterday assured fans that his agreement with Murad does not necessarily constitute a betrayal to Pacquiao’s cause.
Pi?ol said that since Murad had offered to help his boxer, he openly welcomed the idea, considering that the American promoter is the only one showing interest in Filipino boxers.
