THE LEAD counsel of Manny Pacquiao wants the Games and Amusements Board to conduct an investigation on Rod Nazario and kick the former business manager of the Filipino ring great out of professional boxing.
“At a minimum, Rod Nazario should be banned from boxing in the Philippines,” said Judd Burstein, who led a battery of lawyers in winning an out-of-court settlement for Pacquiao in New York this week.
“I don’t know if criminal prosecution is available, but that would, in my opinion, also be appropriate,” Burstein said in an e-mail to a Filipino journalist, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer.
Burstein’s statement stemmed from what he alleged were “out and out lies” of Nazario, who claimed to have settled all of Pacquiao’s tax obligations with the United States Internal Revenue Service.
The Inquirer tried but failed to reach Nazario through calls and text messages on his mobile phone yesterday.
Pacquiao, through Burstein, alleged that Nazario had entered into an agreement with US promoter Murad Muhammad in creating a company, called Philippine Boxing LLC, to embezzle a great part of the boxer’s purses from US fights.
Records show it was this company, which left Pacquiao accountable to the IRS, with the boxer’s back taxes amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Even Murad [Muhammad]’s lawyer, in his summation, essentially admitted that Rod Nazario had cheated Manny,” said Burstein in the same e-mail.
Burstein, according to Filipino boxing expert Hermie Rivera, wants to fly over to personally ask the GAB, the government body that oversees professional sports, to conduct an investigation on Nazario.
Meanwhile, John Burris, a lawyer of former Pacquiao manager Marty Elorde, will bid to recover about $200,000 in purses from Pacquiao’s first six fights in the US.
Another $600,000, representing roughly 30 percent of Pacquiao’s $1.75-million pay in a loss to Mexican Erik Morales, is also being lined up for recovery.
Pacquiao, now handled by a management group led by Shelly Finkel, is being lined up for a match in September.
