No American-based boxing person goes as far back with Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquaio as idoes nternational agent par excellence Sampson Lewkowicz. When Americans only thought of Pacman as an old video game, Lewkowicz was a voice in the US boxing wilderness singing Manny’s boxing praises and trying to get a high-powered American promoter to sign the whirling Pinoy dervish up. This goes back to the year 2001 and it was quite a boxing odyssey it was a Top Rank, Don King and others rejected Lewkowicz’s Pacman pitch. “I was working with (San Francisco) attorney Sydney Hall,” Lewkowicz said. “He had hooked up with Manny while he was in the Philippines on some filmmaking business or something. I went to Bob Arum , to King, to others and nobody showed any interest in Manny. I was at an IBF convention and I was talking to Murad Muhammad and then Murad signed Manny. Then I quit Murad because he decided not to pay anyone. I was not getting paid by anybody in the situation so I walked away.” Pacman and Muhammad had a bitter split and the fighter also had an acrimonious split with Hall. Lewkowicz, meanwhile, now works with Golden Boy, Golden Grain, Seminole Warriors, Sycuan Ringside and a flock of other top promoters. Lewkowicz, based in Vegas, may have more clients than Microsoft. Lewkowicz, though, remains friendly with Pacman and was sitting next to the champ at the Golden Boy boxing show in Cebu City where the popular pugilist was shockingly booed by many fans upset by his plans to combine politics with boxing. Lewkowicz said he saw Manny tear up when the boos cascaded down from his otherwise adoring public. “He cried a bit, yes,” Lewkowicz said. “I could see it. It really shook him, being booed for the first time by his own people in his own country. Don’t forget the magnitude of Mannymania in that country. When he fights in the US, they say 90 percent of the Filipino TV audience watches him fight. When fought Oscar Larios over there, they got a 98 percent share of the TV audience. “Anywhere I go in the Philippines, people recognize me, they know me by name and sight because of Manny. And you, Marley, are also incredibly popular because of Boxingconfidential.com. They love your web site and all your writers. They feel that you pay proper attention to their idol.” Despite Manny’s emotional reaction, Lewkowicz said the fighter’s decision to put politics aside is a good one. “This is his first career, boxing, and this is why the people love him. The boos made him see the will of the people. The boos came out of love, not hate. The Filipino people want only the best for their true hero.”
