MANNY PACQUIAO is flying to the US on June 12 for a briefing with his American lawyers in preparation for the start of a whirlwind trial concerning the case he filed against promoter Murad Muhammad.
Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York has set the hearing on June 20 and according to the Fordham University law graduate from Albany, the trial could be over by the end of June.
“I will be going there to attend the hearing until it’s over. I will be there early because we will be having a briefing with my lawyers,” Pacquiao told the Bulletin yesterday during a lull in a taping at channel 2.
Lead counsel Judd Burstein, assisted by Los Angeles lawyers Nicholas Khan and Keith Davidson are optimistic Pacquiao would get the raw end of the stick in his $33 million case against the New Jersey-based boxing man.
“This is a big victory for Team Pacquiao,” Khan said in a report that came out in the Internet. “A protracted and a drawn-out court battle is the last thing that we wanted.”
Muhammad’s defense team managed to work out an injunction that prevents Pacquiao from hooking up with a new promoter until the conclusion of the case.
In the event a favorable ruling is reached within two weeks, Pacquiao will return to the ring sometime in September probably against Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez of El Salvador possibly on the same night Erik Morales collides with Jesus Chavez for Morales’s World Boxing Council super-featherweight crown.
Chavez outpointed Hernandez in their 12-round title elimination bout at the Staples Center in Los Angeles two weeks ago to earn the right to challenge Morales, who last March 19 in Las Vegas, beat Pacquiao.
“When I get there and after the trial I will know more details about my future fight,” said Pacquiao, who has accused Muhammad of shortchanging him the past four years.
