MANAGER Shelly Finkel has always worked for the best interest of Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao, one of his American handlers said Monday.
“We simply try to obtain the best offers for Manny’s fights and to make sure that all parties are protected contractually,” Nick Khan said in an e-mail message to Sports Times.
Finkel recently filed a $7.5-million (P390-million) suit against the lawyer Jing Gacal—the legal counsel and corporate secretary of Manny Pacquiao Promotions Inc.—and Cebuano promoter-manager Rex “Wakee” Salud, Pacquiao’s adviser, for alleged “contractual interference,” among other things.
The complaint, filed in the United States, claims that Gacal and Salud entered into a “disadvantageous contract” with local TV giant ABS-CBN for the Mano-a-Mano program on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum starring Pacquiao against Mexican Oscar Larios.
Pacquiao was not named a respondent in the suit.
Salud had earlier said that the “nuisance suit” was a way to prompt Pacquiao to extend his contract with Finkel, which ends on January 31, 2007.
Although he declined to comment on the suit, Khan noted that while “PacMan” was in the Philippines “he [Pacquiao] was being pulled in so many directions by so many different people, which is why we had Manny train in the US.”
Pacquiao was mostly preoccupied with his endorsement commitments and public appearances that left him little time to train in the country.
The same people running his promotions outfit reportedly negotiated most of these deals.
The situation caused his trainer, Freddie Roach, to raise concern about the boxer’s fitness for his match with Larios, considered a tune-up for a third megabuck fight with Mexican icon Erik Morales.
The only time Roach could heave a sigh of relief was when Pacquiao finally arrived in California two weeks ago and began working out at his Wild Card gym in Los Angeles.
Khan noted “it’s a shame that none of these new ‘associates’ were willing to assist Manny when the misappropriations by Manny’s former handlers were occurring.”
With the aid of Finkel, Khan and Keith Davidson—who now jointly manage the boxer—and noted lawyer Judd Burstein, Pacquiao was able to secure early last year an out-of-court settlement with Murad Muhammad to void his remaining contract with the American promoter.
“Since then, Manny’s been in control of his own career,” Khan said.
For the rubber match against “El Terrible” Morales, which has been reset to November 18 from October 7 as earlier reported, Khan earlier said that they were able to get “Manny’s highest payday.”
Pacquiao earned $1.75 million (P91 million) from his second fight with Morales, who suffered the first knockout loss of his career in their January 21 clash in Las Vegas, Nevada.
