Lawyer Rudy Salud, the World Boxing Council?s founding secretary-general, who cautioned Filipino ring idol and national treasure Manny Pacquiao to honor the seven-fight contract he signed with Oscar de la Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions and not to go with Top Rank?s Bob Arum, said he is in a state of apprehension in the face of a bitter contractual dispute between the two promoters.
Salud?s vast experience in the world of sports for some four decades gives him the unquestioned credentials to voice his views on the present situation where Pacquiao, after signing a contract with Golden Boy Promotions in mid-September has now, according to Arum, tied himself down to a four-year deal with Top Rank Promotions.
From all accounts, it was trainer Freddie Roach, who brought Manny to De la Hoya. Following a dinner with him at Morton?s steakhouse in Los Angeles, Pacquiao signed the seven-fight deal and received $500,000 of which $350,000 was goodwill money and the balance of $150,000 an advance.
Rex ?Wakee? Salud, who is often referred to as a good friend and confidant of Pacquiao, provided a hint of where his sympathies lie when he told us during an overseas telephone conversation that the money was too small.
Salud was also obviously peeved that he was left behind when Roach, Pacquiao?s lawyer Franklin ?Jing? Gacal and one of the so-called LA Boys, Joe Ramos, sneaked out to meet with De la Hoya and to finalize the contract.
Arum?s boast
Arum responded to the widely publicized Pacquiao-Golden Boy deal by telling us that things would clear up after the Nov. 18 Grand Finale rubber match and he was standing by his statement that Pacquiao will continue to fight for Top Rank after the showdown with Erik Morales.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Standard Today at 2:15 a.m on Oct. 27, Arum said, quite judiciously: ?I don?t want to disturb the fighters and get caught up with a lot of issues that will become clear after the fight. Right now, it?s good for both guys [Pacquiao and Morales] to concentrate on the fight.?
Golden Boy sought to downplay Arum?s perceived confidence, stating that Golden Boy Promotions had ?a valid promotional deal with Manny Pacquiao and we intend to enforce that contract.?
Golden Boy emphasized that Manny had signed the contract ?in the presence of his attorney [Gacal], the contract was negotiated by his attorney and by Manny and Manny accepted the sign on bonus.? Gacal?s role came under scrutiny in the light of Arum?s earlier claim that he had gone through the specific provision in the Morales fight contract, which supposedly prevented Pacquiao from signing up with any other promoter until after the Morales fight and that Gacal went through it ?with a fine tooth comb.? How then did the lawyer reconcile the seeming conflict?
Salud claimed that when he asked Gacal why he allowed Pacquiao to sign the Golden Boy contract, the lawyer claimed he had advised Pacquiao not to sign. This could not be confirmed from Gacal. However, Salud, no relation to Wakee Salud, provided a plausible answer. It was that the Morales fight contract was not ?in any way impaired? by the Golden Boy deal because it would only take effect after the Nov. 18 fight. Salud stated further that the provision referred to by Arum was similar to many other provisions in fight contracts which have ?no meaning or significance to the object of the agreement. It means nothing in law because it was not something that disrupted the consent given by both parties [Arum and Pacquiao].?
Misguided?
Significantly, Golden Boy Promotions vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez e-mailed us saying that they believe Pacquiao ?has been misguided by certain members of his team and that he will ultimately realize that our contract is valid and offers him the best opportunities to further his career.? Gomez said they were proud of Pacquiao and looking forward to working with him on his next seven fights.
Gomez added in the kind of language Pacquiao would probably like, that De la Hoya was ready ?to sit down with Manny, man-to-man, fighter-to-fighter? to thresh out the mess. By announcing that they planned to bring suits against Salud, Gacal and Los Angeles agent Michael Koncz, Golden Boy identified those, who allegedly misguided Pacquiao.
Salud has made no bones about the fact that he sided with Arum, claiming he was a decent person. Koncz was also described by one of those close to Pacquiao as a liar and someone virtually adopted by Arum for his own purposes. It was revealed that three days before the Morales fight, respected boxing writer and columnist Kevin Iole of the Las Vegas Review Journal, asked Arum whether he gave Koncz a substantial sum of money. Arum fumed and didn?t answer the question.
A recent column item, which was pre-ambled as gossip, intriguingly said that Arum provided an apartment for a boxing agent in Orange County, California as a gesture of appreciation for delivering a fighter to his camp. It also claimed that according to court records, the agent filed for bankruptcy last May. But no names were mentioned.
In the most recent development, Arum disclosed that Top Rank had filed a suit against Golden Boy in Las Vegas asking a federal judge to make a declaratory judgment as to which Pacquiao promotional contract is valid.
?We?re not seeking any damages yet. Right now we want the judge to decide which contract is valid. I believe this is an open and shut matter that won?t take long for the judge to rule on,? Arum told Greg Leon of Boxing Talk.
Bizarre twist
In another bizarre twist, which demonstrates why boxing was once referred to as the ?red light district of sports,? promoter Gary Shaw, who slammed Pacquiao as being disloyal when he didn?t renew his promotional contract after the former earned $250,000 from one single Pacquiao fight, was teaming up with Arum against Golden Boy. It didn?t faze chief executive Richard Schaefer, who told Leon: ?How sweet. Bob Arum and Gary Shaw together again.?
It was the same Shaw who had not so long ago ?offered to testify for us against Arum.?
?Lawsuits don?t scare us. When you do things right you have nothing to worry about,? Schaefer said.
Rudy Salud, however, is worrying a lot over Pacquiao. He noted that while Manny is not included in terms of damages that Arum will have to pay in case judgment is issued against him in the case for tortuous interference filed by Golden Boy, he is ?prejudiced by way of his future fights being held in abeyance.?
This was also the fear of Ring Magazine editor in chief Nigel Collins, who said: ?It?s a pity.?
Salud stressed: ?We don?t want any controversy, any negative matters to befall Manny Pacquiao. I hope these two promoters with Pacquiao, can come together to solve their problems without having to go to court and thereby impeding the progress and career of Manny. That is bad for him.?
If a poll on the Pacquiao Web site is any indication, then fight fans are overwhelmingly behind De la Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions, with 67.5 percent for Golden Boy as against 20.5 percent for Arum and 12.5 percent wanting neither.
But as Rudy Salud so pointedly stated: ?The Filipino people love Manny Pacquiao a lot more than Arum or Golden Boy. We are most concerned about the peace and tranquility of Manny Pacquiao.?
We should not let the trouble ruin the jubilation.
