Don’t look now, but Manny Pacquiao’s lawsuit against promoter Murad Muhammad could be fast snowballing into a star-studded affair.
Lennox Lewis, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, is among several possible witnesses in Pacquiao’s $33 million (P1.78 billion) lawsuit against his American promoter Murad Muhammad in a US federal court in New York, according to reports Wednesday.
The trial is set to start Monday (Tuesday in the Philippines), with Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York presiding. The judge has ordered that the trial be completed in two weeks.
Pacquiao’s lawyers Judd Burstein and Keith Davidson said other possible witnesses include Filipino sports columnist Joaquin “Quinito” Henson, Roberto “Boying” Nazario, trainer Freddie Roach, promoters Lou DiBella and Dino Duva, and the lawyer Sydney Hall, who has also filed charges against Muhammad in a superior court in California.
Lewis, perhaps the greatest pugilist to come out of Britain, is expected to shed light on Muhammad’s apparent failure to protect Pacquiao’s interests, particularly his share of the pay-per-view earnings in his fight against Mexico’s Erik Morales last March 19.
Lewis is a former client of Burstein, who won a $7.4 million federal court judgment for the former undisputed heavyweight champion against promoter Panos Eliades on grounds of racketeering and fraud in 2002.
