AN “enlightened” Manny Pacquiao emerged from his meeting with former business manager Rod Nazario on Thursday.
“Naliwanagan ako [Everything is clear],” said Pacquiao after he met Nazario, together with his close associates Gerry Garcia, Lito Mondejar and Moy Lainez, behind closed doors for nearly two hours at Nazario’s Wild Card gym in Para?aque City.
It was the first time that the fighter and his former business manager had a face-to-face encounter in two months, and their first since Pacquiao won an out-of-court settlement in his $33-million suit against Murad Muhammad on July 26 that freed him from his contract with the American promoter.
Wearing an orange long-sleeved shirt with white stripes, black slacks, leather shoes and a sparkling diamond earring on his right ear, Pacquiao—carrying an envelope filled with documents from the case—was all businesslike as he entered the room where Nazario and his colleagues awaited him.
Nazario, clad in a simple gray polo shirt, was also ready with his own envelope containing documents proving that he had not conspired with Muhammad in cheating Pacquiao on his ring earnings in the United States, as most news reports surrounding the case have alleged.
“I showed him my bank accounts and he saw that what I have is nowhere the amount that I allegedly cheated from him,” said the stocky former business manager, who had charted the career of the Pacquiao since 1998 when he was an up-and-coming 17-year-old fighter.
“Apparently, I was made the scapegoat by Murad from what Manny told me,” said Nazario, who, like Pacquiao, declined to discuss the details of their talk once they came out the room.
One source, however, said that Nazario was angry to learn that Muhammad had claimed that he had deposited checks in Nazario’s name in the United States, despite the fact that he had no bank accounts there.
Based on his conversation with his former ward, he disclosed that he was considering filing a case against Muhammad.
“But I am not a lawyer, so I better consult one first if a case can be filed. I need documents which I have asked Manny to furnish me.”
“Nagkaigihan na kami [Everything between Rod and me is OK],” Manny said of the business manager that he once looked up to as a father figure, although both he and Nazario still seemed distant to each other once they came out of the room.
“Everything was cordial. We even managed to laugh,” said Lainez of the atmosphere during the meeting.
But Nazario remained insistent that he would no longer interfere in Pacquiao’s affairs “since he already has a new team,” referring to the boxer’s new handlers led by American manager Shelly Finkel.
“That is what I said and it remains that way,” he said.
