AT THE very least, Manny Pacquiao will earn $2.5 million from his rubber match with Erik Morales on Nov. 18 in Las Vegas.
“That is if the pay-per-view and the ticket sales bomb,” said Pacquiao’s Los Angeles-based adviser Jo Ramos yesterday. “And that’s unlikely to happen.”
Ramos revealed that Pacquiao and Morales are going to share equally the revenue of their fight which is scheduled at the Thomas and Mack Center.
“Everything goes into the pot, including the PPV, official merchandise, gate receipts and television rights,” Ramos said and at the end of the day, the Filipino southpaw “will make more than the guaranteed purse.”
In the first fight, Pacquiao received .750 million, while in the rematch that he won by knockout, Pacquiao was paid million plus a handsome share of the pay-per-view sales.
The official contract is going to be signed anytime this week and should be at the desk of Top Rank big boss Bob Arum this weekend in time for press conference that is going to be staged at The Wynn followed by another one in Los Angeles on Aug. 15.
Ramos said Pacquiao is very well protected with clauses assuring the fighter a penalty of as much as million in the event Morales fails to make the super-featherweight limit of 130 lbs and he even has the luxury of running away with the money without throwing a single punch.
Top Rank is making sure Pacquiao ends up wearing a smile on his face with provisions in the contract such as high-end hotel accommodations, complimentary fight tickets and numerous airline tickets for members of his entourage.
Another smashing victory over Morales is going to open up a lot more for Pacquiao since his US handlers are seriously considering to stage a tune-up fight “either in Hawaii or San Francisco” sometime in March or April, 2007 in preparation for a rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera, that is if Barrera beats Rocky Juarez on Sept. 16 at the MGM Grand.
In preparation for Morales, Pacquiao is going to kick off his training in Cebu in the third or fourth week of August before flying to the US for training camp proper at the Wild Card in Hollywood.
“Manny flies to catch the Barrera-Juarez fight then he begins training a few days after that,” added Ramos.
