HIS ring record shows Manny Pacquiao has been knocked out only twice, in the Philippines and in Thailand.
But the latest twist in his legal tussle against US promoter Murad Muhammad could lead to a more crippling case for Pacquiao.
Murad, armed with an impending injunction, has vowed to prevent Pacquiao from fighting anywhere in the United States.
Murad made the move after Pacquiao’s new handlers announced that the General Santos City sensation would next be fighting an Australian IBF super featherweight champ in the US in September.
That’s quite alarming, and one guy truly bothered by the Murad threat was boxing guru Hermie Rivera.
“Searched the mighty high and low for court injunction forbidding Pacquiao to fight in the US without Murad’s clearance, to no avail,” said Hermie.
Hermie begged our boxing reporter, Salven Lagumbay, where he got “this non-existent ruling for the peace of mind of Pacquiao’s vast following.”
No formal injunction yet against Pacquiao, explained Salven L., a self-confessed Hermie Rivera admirer.
“My source said, as soon as a US fight is set for Pacquiao, Murad would automatically file an injunction,” Salven said.
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Well, the boxing community is divided on the injunction issue.
There are those who said Murad has the right connections, while others said Pacquiao cannot be touched by Murad, who has a live two-fight contract with Pacquiao.
For his part, Pacquiao yesterday advised fans not to worry.
“He’s confident an injunction won’t totally stop him from fighting in the US,” said Lagumbay. “Maybe only a portion of his purse would be withheld, just like in the Bernard Hopkins-Don King Case.”
At the same time, Lagumbay said he got it from informed sources that an injunction against Pacquiao has already been readied.
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Now, let’s leave the case at that and hear some cool boxing prose from the pen of Hermie Rivera, to help relieve us from the choking heat wave. Take it away, sir:
“The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion,” this according to veteran reporter John Lawton before the Association of Broadcast Journalists in Las Vegas, 1995.
Never has this claim been made more pronounced than the time Erik Morales gave Manny Pacquiao a thorough drubbing to ensnare bragging rights as junior lightweight “boss of bosses.”
However, as is the wont of some cockalorum boxing pundits, their obsequious view is that Morales didn’t win the bitterly fought match if he did not butt Pacquiao, used ill-stuffed gloves, before the RP sensation was subjected to outrageous medical demands by the Nevada Athletic Commission — not to mention the bizarre torment caused by his wicked entourage.
OK, let’s leave it at that for now until a panel of acceptable experts emerge to resolve this nagging fistic imbroglio.
For now, Erik “the terrible” Mexican remains the king in that crowded division once ruled mightily by our own Gabriel “Flash” Elorde.
Now, we move to a messier area where we see Manny challenging assertions made by his ex-promoter Murad Muhammad and former business manager Rod Nazario that his tax woes in the United States among other problems are a thing of the past – -a claim called quickly by Pacquiao’s lawyers as out of whack.
That will leave us guessing though on the decision of this multi-faceted complaint filed by the GenSan ring sensation which includes the charge of estafa covering six fights dating from the time he grabbed the IBF super-bantamweight crown from Lehlo Ledwaba.
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Closer to home, there is this long dormant case filed against the promoters of Luisito Espinosa who successfully defended his WBC featherweight title against Argentine Carlos Rios but remains unresolved by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Rosario Cruz.
Many years have gone by since Luisito knocked the daylights out of Rios who went home fully compensated despite a badly rearranged facial feature which I’m sure his Mom found “unrecognizeable.”
Louie’s father Deo, in fact, has sent an urgent plea for assistance to no less than the Chief Justice of the land, Hilario Davide Jr., for recovery of (you guessed it) stolen income from his World Boxing Council featherweight title match promoted by Rod Nazario, Larry de Pedro and Lito Mondejar.
When will these frightful ordeals of our ring icons end? Just asking.
Hermie Rivera
P.S. (the resumption of Louie’s trial is on the 31st.)
