It all happened by chance. “I took this photograph the moment after Manny knocked out Ricky Hatton ? I was on assignment for ESPN Magazine but I was so enamoured with the fight, so into it, I forgot to take pictures?so I was up in the raised platform because there were not enough seats at ringside. When the fight was ending I thought ‘Oh my God, I’ve got no photographs?’ I took one frame. This was the only frame I took of the fight. And I looked at this photograph ? I’m not a boxing photographer, I’m more of an art photographer, so I looked at this picture and I had goosebumps instantly. The world has to see this picture. I took the picture, I made it 60 x 80 inches I put it up with one of my dealers, people in boxing will see this picture and I will become the boxing photographer for all the big fights. I just knew?”
“It’s crazy. One of dealers sends Todd Duboef, who loves the picture. I didn’t know he was, but we started exchanging emails and he was like, I’ve got to have that picture. He’s in the picture. Then, he was like who the hell are you ? He came to New York, we bonded, and since then I do all the ad pictures.”
“This is my fifth book, but I think the world needs this book. There’s a version for the fans, I had access to him, the photos are for his fans. The light is amazing in the Wild Card Gym?I’m obsessed with boxing.”
Lucia McKelvey, Pacquiao’s deal agent at Top Rank Inc., told The Telegraph: “Although David had all these photos, how would we get a deal done ? He had these amazing photos, and I had been thinking about doing a photo book with Manny. Book deals with Manny are difficult, because his biography rights had already been sold, yet no one had the official photography rights. From May 2009 onwards, Drebin had the photos of Manny’s life at Top Rank, life?career?the inside track?and unseen moments. Drebin would email me I got back and we started a creative process telling the life story through the pictures.”
