AND the winner of the first round of their legal battle is—both the camps of Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao and American promoter Murad Muhammad, judging from the way the opposing groups are talking.
According to an Internet report on Wednesday, New York federal judge Loretta Preska set the trial date of the $33-million (P1.78 billion) case Pacquiao filed against Murad on June 20.
The report said that Preska had ordered “an expedited jury trial” in a legal process that reputedly could wind up in two weeks.
Nicholas Khan, a lawyer and member of Pacquiao’s new management team, said that the decision “is a big victory for the [Pacquiao] team. A protracted court battle is the least thing we wanted.”
A separate Internet report, however, said that Preska also granted Murad’s petition for a preliminary injunction against “PacMan.” This meant that the Filipino boxer could not fight under any other promoter until either the order is lifted or he wins the case.
Judd Burstein, Pacquiao’s legal counsel, said: “[Murad’s camp] made a motion for a preliminary injunction which barred Manny from fighting over the next two years until they got ready to go to trial.”
“The thing that was most important to us was unequivocally getting a quick resolution. Manny’s contractual status will be resolved by the end of June now,” Burstein said.
Pacquiao, whose fights in the US had been promoted by Murad since 1998, is seeking $13 million [P702 million] on five claims of relief on top of $20 million in damages from the American promoter.
The Pacquiao camp said the injunction that Murad obtained from judge Preska was a “consolation” in return for a jury trial.
Julian Friedman, the promoter’s lawyer, and Murad himself declined to comment on the judge’s decision.
Murad, however, said in the other Internet report that the injunction “was difficult to obtain” and was sad over the turn of events that was hurting Pacquiao’s career. “We also want a speedy trial,” he said.
Murad said that even now the fight dates of Home Box Office Sports for September and October “are being sold and they won’t book Pacquiao, which is a major loss for him.”
He expressed concern since it was Pacquiao “who is shouldering all the legal fees running into hundreds of thousands of dollars while his management team, which pushed him into this, didn’t spend a time. They’re just spending Pacquiao’s money.”
Murad pointed out that the new management team led by Shelly Finkel did not have a hand in arranging Pacquiao’s March 19 fight against Erik Morales, but took 25 percent of the boxer’s purse.
He added that despite Pacquiao’s promise, Rod Nazario, the boxer’s former business manager, still had not gotten the 10 percent cut from the Filipino fighter’s earnings.
Nazario, who has not talked to his former ward since they were in Cebu almost a month ago, confirmed this in a telephone interview on Friday.
Implicated the case because Murad allegedly failed to pay Pacquiao’s taxes in the fights he promoted for the Filipino ring idol, Nazario stood pat on his claims that this was all taken care of “and I have the receipts and checks to prove it.”
Pacquiao, who has returned to his hometown of General Santos City, reportedly welcomed the news of the start of the trial and hoped that justice would be served.
“[Finkel and company] are taking shots at me using Pacquiao’s money,” Murad said.
