By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Rex “Wakee” Salud, close friend and confidant of Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao said yesterday he and Pacquiao’s lawyer Franklin “Jing” Gacal would meet with Pacquiao's management team headed by Shelly Finkel and including lawyers Nick Kahn and Keith Davidson today .
Salud said the meeting would try to resolve the issues raised in a lawsuit filed by Finkel, Kahn and Davidson against Salud and Gacal who, they alleged, advised Pacquiao to sign the contract for the July 2 showdown with Oscar Larios under disadvantageous terms and in violation of their management contract with Pacquiao.
Finkel disclosed that he ignored the advice of his lawyers who wanted Pacquiao included in the suit, giving rise to claims by Salud that Finkel was eyeing a contract extension in exchange for dropping the suit.
The lawsuit alleged that Pacquiao, contrary to the terms of his contract with Finkel and his management team “did not obtain Plaintiffs written permission prior to entering into the ABS-CBN agreement” and claimed that Gacal and Salud advised Pacquiao to sign.
The Plaintiffs claimed there was “a patently obvious change on the introductory paragraph” of the ABS-CBN agreement with Manny Pacquiao as an individual. They said it had been “stricken through and replaced with MP Promotions Inc.” The management team claimed that since they are entitled to 25 percent of any money that Pacquiao earns for boxing contests, they are entitled to $1 million of the $4 million paid by ABS-CBN.
The lawsuit also charged that based on the agreement with ABS-CBN Pacquiao had expressly warranted and represented that he had “the full power and authority to enter and perform this agreement” when he did not.
Under the agreement, Finkel et al accused Pacquiao of granting ABS-CBN a right of last refusal that allows the network to “match any written, bona fide third party offer within 30 days of receipt of that offer” which they claimed “cripples any effort to secure the highest payday for a boxer as other entities do not want to be seen as leverage for a better deal with the entity holding the right of first refusal.”