MANNY PACQUIAO’S American trainer Freddie Roach was disappointed when he learned yesterday that the Filipino icon had signed up with Top Rank to promote his future fights.
But Roach said signing the contract does not end the conflict between Bob Arum’s Top Rank and Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions over rights to Pacquiao. He said the courts will decide it.
“Yeah, I heard about that but it’s going to be the courts that will decide who would be Manny Pacquiao’s promoter,” said Roach, sounding concerned that the Filipino southpaw may have missed out on a better deal by choosing Arum over DL Hoya’s group.
De la Hoya has under his wings such fighters as Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and Joan Guzman who are the top boxers in Pacquiao’s division and likely to command bigger purses while Arum has Erik Morales whose career is all but over.
Asked what made Pacquiao side with Arum, Roach said Arum may have offered something Paquiao was unable to refuse.
“Maybe Bob sweetened the pot,” said Roach. “Manny did sign two contracts but it was the contract with Golden Boy that he first signed and it had the better deal for us,” said Roach, who was present when Pacquiao affixed his signature on the GBP contract on Sept. 19 in Los Angeles.
Though Roach and Pacquiao have developed a relationship similar to that of father and son, the trainer said Pacquiao made the decision without consulting him. There was no phone call which Pacquiao was said to have made to Roach before he hooked up with Arum.
What he got was a phone call after the deal was signed.
“Well, I just told him that I would be on his side,” said Roach. “I thought we had an understanding that he would make his announcement on January 1st.”
Still, Roach said he doesn’t have any quarrel with Top Rank but is firm in his conviction that GBP, and not Top Rank, had the better offer.
“Me and Manny are OK. I also don’t have anything against Top Rank. I will do my job as his trainer and get him ready for his next fight,” said Roach.
Some say Roach has a hidden agenda in pushing for GBP, that he wanted to land a job as De la Hoya’s trainer.
De La Hoya is facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a big money duel on May 5 in Las Vegas and Roach is among those in the shorlist of possible trainers. DL Hoya reportedly is looking for a trainer to temporarily replace his chief trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who is in an awkward situation since it is his son who is going up against Oscar.
“If I am given a choice, I would still pick Manny over Oscar,” said Roach. “I just hope that this situation would not tie him up (with Arum) for long because he needs to fight regularly,” added Roach.
Last Thursday, Arum and Pacquiao held a hastily-called press conference at The Manila Hotel where the fighter announced that Top Rank is going to promote his future fights, including a proposed April 28, 2007 rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas.
While Arum admits that the priority right now is for Pacquiao to slug it out with Barrera the second time, this remains uncertain since Barrera is with DL Hoya who some say will be out of his mind if he allowed this fight to happen.
But Arum has a backup plan that would pit Pacquiao against a handpicked foe on the same date in Macau in the event Pacquiao-Barrera II falls through.
Arum is dangling a .5 million purse and a share of the pay-per-view earnings to convince Barrera to fight Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s New York-based manager Shelly Finkel also expressed surprise over the turn of events.
“I recently told Manny how I got him out of his problems with Murad (Muhammad) and also the government over taxes he owed. I also told him how I got him for the second Morales fight double what he got for Morales 1 which he lost. He told me I didn’t need to remind him of what I did for him,” Finkel told a leading boxing website.
“I told him he tended to forget. I guess he forgot again. I really like Manny and wish him well. But I can’t help being angry at Manny for his lack of loyalty and his bad choices,” added Finkel.
Finkel and Roach were in Manila and GenSan for Pacquiao’s birthday bash during which they tried to convince Pacquiao to put his lot with DL Hoya.
Obviously, Arum had the better persuasive powers.
Meanwhile, Arum left Manila last night happy in the thought that he has scored a victory over De La Hoya that’s almost comparable to a knockout.
