In what could be a ploy to pressure Manny Pacquiao into extending his contract, American manager Shelly Finkel filed a $7.5 Million suit in Los Angeles last Tuesday against lawyer Franklin Gacal and matchmaker Rex (Wakee) Salud.
Finkel’s contract to manage Pacquiao expires on Jan. 31 next year and he’s leveraging the suit to bargain for an extension from one to three more fights.
Finkel accused Gacal and Salud of fraud and contract interference, among others, in negotiating Pacquiao’s fight against Oscar Larios with the ABS-CBN network. Gacal is corporate secretary and Salud a consultant of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, the fighter’s newly-organized company that handles his business affairs.
Salud said distrust appears to be the basis of Finkel’s disenchantment. ABS-CBN gave Pacquiao’s company $4 Million–of which $1 Million is his purse–to stage the July 2 card at the Araneta Coliseum. But Finkel, who is entitled to a percentage of Pacquiao’s purse, wants a share of $4 Million, not $1 Million.
In Finkel’s contract, he is supposed to take a 10 percent cut of Pacquiao’s purses with his management partners, lawyers Nick Khan and Keith Davidson, splitting another five percent. A 10 percent share was initially allocated for former business manager Rod Nazario but in an addendum to the contract, that was rescinded and instead, distributed equally to Finkel and Pacquiao at five percent each.
Salud said Finkel refuses to recognize the addendum and is claiming Nazario’s full 10 percent share. Finkel and his partners are now demanding 25 percent of the $4 Million that ABS-CBN has budgeted for the July 2 card.
“It’s not fair,” said Salud. “Manny’s purse is $1 Million and the rest of the budget is for the undercard, Larios’ purse, plane fares, hotel accommodations and other expenses. Why should Finkel share in the $4 million budget when Manny’s purse is $1 Million’ Finkel negotiated Manny’s purse of $750,000 for the (Hector) Velazquez fight so $1 Million for Larios isn’t a bad deal.”
Gacal said Finkel is offering to withdraw the case on condition his contract is extended depending on how much he will share in the Larios fight.
“If he shares in $3 Million, he’s agreeable to no extension,” said Gacal. “If he shares in $2.5 Million, he wants an extension of one fight. If he shares in $2 Million, he wants an extension of two fights. If he shares in $1.5 Million, he wants an extension of three fights. If he shares in $1 Million which is what it’s supposed to be, he’s going to court.”
Pacquiao was not named in the suit.
Salud described the suit as a “nuisance case” because it has no basis.
He said one of the “baseless” charges is practicing law in the US without a license.
Salud and Gacal were in the US to visit Pacquiao who is training in Los Angeles and were scheduled to leave for home last May 27. But they were asked to postpone their departure to May 30 because Finkel would fly in from New York for a meeting.
Salud, Gacal, Finkel, Khan, Pacquiao’s assistant Joe Ramos and writer Winchell Campos met for two hours last May 30 in the fighter’s two-bedroom suite at the Villas of LaBrea. Pacquiao did not join the meeting.
“We could’ve left for Manila earlier but we stayed in good faith because we were told Finkel wanted to discuss certain things,” said Salud.
“We were surprised when at the end of the meeting, we were served legal notices of the suit. Now, we’re being asked to reply to the suit within 30 days.”
The meeting broke up for lunch then Pacquiao went to the Wild Card Gym to train. Later that afternoon, Finkel met with Gacal to suggest the options for dropping the case.
Finkel, 61, signed a two-year contract to manage Pacquiao and is in the process of negotiating his third fight against Erik Morales in Las Vegas. Morales has publicly confirmed the rubber match will be held on Oct. 7 but trainer Freddie Roach reportedly said it may be too soon after the Larios bout.
Salud said Roach was upset that Finkel filed the suit while Pacquiao is in training.
“Freddie thinks the timing is bad, that if Finkel really wants to sue, he should’ve have waited until after the Larios fight–not before–because this is an unnecessary distraction,” said Salud.
Finkel and Khan were recently in Manila to drum up interest for the Pacquiao-Larios fight and gave no indication they were preparing to file a suit while enjoying the hospitality of their hosts.
“Maybe, they’re anticipating their contract won’t be renewed and because Manny is such a hot property, they’re bargaining for an extension as early as now,” said Salud. “It’s not right that they’re pressuring Manny to extend their contract by suing us. Manny wants the contract to expire first then he’ll talk to them about an extension, not before.”
