A main fixture within Manny Pacquiao’s team of advisors, lawyers and consultants, Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson spoke on the result of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s recent trip to the Philippines to hammer out details for the 8-division World Champ’s next fight.
“Si Manny sumusunod lang kung sino ang ilalaban sa kanya, at tungkol sa financial, hinde siya masyado nakekealam diyan. So may pera, or magkano man ang pera kay Mayweather, okay lang kay Manny. Ang gusto niya basta malabanan si Mayweather,” Singson told our colleague Snow Badua of DZSR Sport Radio 918 in an exclusive radio interview he shared with me (click here for video/audio of this interview).
Translation: “Manny just adheres to who they put in front of him for him to fight. And regarding the financial side, he doesn’t meddle with that too much either. If there’s money, or how much money there is for Mayweather, doesn’t matter much to Manny. All he wants is to fight Mayweather.”
Asked how close and realistic talks are about Pacquiao vs. Mayweather happening, Singson reiterated that Mayweather has yet to sign a contract, and has historically repeatedly called out Pacquiao only to take his statements back, or make negotiations for a fight impossible. He also stated that if Mayweather doesn’t ink a fight contract to fight Pacquiao, that Miguel Cotto is the chosen opponent for Pacquiao by his promoters.
“Pero gaya ng sabi nila, hinde pa pumipirma si Mayweather, maaring bawiin pa yan, pero kung pipirma, maganda, kung hinde, most probably ang kalaban na niya si Cotto.
“Yung mga promoters ang namili kay Cotto,
“Hinde namimili si Manny. Kung ano lang gusto nila ilaban, okay lang sa kanya […] Pero ang priority ni Manny, si Mayweather.”
Translation: “Like they said, Mayweather hasn’t signed yet. He can take back what he said again, but if he signs a contract, then great. But if he doesn’t, he (Pacquiao) will probably fight Cotto.
“The promoters selected Cotto,
“Manny doesn’t choose. Whoever they put in front of him, he’s okay with it. But Manny’s priority is to fight Mayweather.”
With all the talks coming from the Mayweather side blaming Arum, Singson addressed questions regarding the Top Rank promoter’s legitimacy in conductiong negotiations for this superfight.
“Walang nakakaalam, pero maraming nakikiusap, maraming nag-nenegotiate, maraming gusto tumulong, pero ang importante pumirma siya kasi binabawi niya ang sinasabi niya. Hinde tayo nakakasiguro kung puro salita lang.
“Pag pumayag siya (Mayweather) uupo na agad at magpipirmahan na.
“OO nakahanda na […] na kay Bob Arum (ang contract),”
“Nakahanda si Bob Arum, kaya lang walang nakakasiguro, although maraming nakikipag-usap, pabago-bago kasi ang sinasabi ni Mayweather. Kagaya ngayon sinasabi niya, lalaban na ako, halika na, ilang beses na nangyare iyan. Nung una ang daming hinihingi; kunan kami ng dugo, nung pumayag si Manny, tapos nung pipirma si Manny, ‘hinde, pagkuha ng dugo ganito,’ yung mga imposible ang hinihingi niya,”
“OO. Willing naman siya eh. Hinde lang naniniwala si Bob Arum dahil nga pabago-bago ang desisyon ni Mayweather.”
“Pag nag start training niya, mga February or March malalaman na kung sino sunod na kalaban niya.”
“Kahit sino basta full support lang pamilya niya, okay na.”
Translation: “Nobody knows, but a lot are negotiating, many want to help, but the most important thng is for Mayweather to sign (a contract), because he takes back what he says, and we can never be sure when it’s all talk.
“If Mayweather agrees, we can immediately sit down and sign papers,
“We’re ready […] Bob Arum has the contracts,
“Bob Arum is ready, although nobody can really be sure, and there are a lot of people negotiating. Mayweather changes his statements all the time. For example, right now he says, he wants to fight, let’s go, it’s happened many times before. In the beginning he was asking for way too much; asked Manny to give his blood, but when Manny agreed, he said ‘no, you have to give your blood this way,’ he has impossible demands.
“Bob Arum is willing to make the fight happen, but doesn’t believe in what Mayweather says anymore because he changes his mind all the time.
“When he (Pacquiao) starts straining around February or March, then we’ll know who he is going to really fight next.”
