By Rey Danseco
WBC president Jose Sulaiman is very proud of having Manny Pacquiao [as champion]. Sulaiman also congratulated Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Filipino people for having a great champion like Pacquiao.
“Congratulations to Mrs. Arroyo and to all the people of the Philippines. I’m very happy because a great star was born tonight,” said Sulaiman while his son, WBC executive secretary Mauricio Sulaiman was in control of his wheelchair in the crowded looby of the MGM Grand on their way out of the Garden Arena.
“And I’m very very happy and very proud (of having Pacquiao as WBC champ),” he said. “Tonight, Manny demonstrated that he is the very best in the world, no question. (We are) very proud, because he came to the arena with the WBC belt.”
Arroyo also extended his congratulatory message.
"Pacman" solidified his reputation as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter with a dominant performance that left De La Hoya, the 2-1 favorite, unable to come out of his corner for round nine in the non-title bout,” said Arroyo.
Manny Pacquiao has opted to pay the sanction fees with discounts in his last two fights to keep his prestigeous position as WBC lightweight champion.
Pacquiao’s legal adviser, Atty. Franklin “Jeng” Gacal made the arrangement of payment of $80,000 in sanction fees for Pacquiao’s March victory over Juan Manuel Manuel Marquez for the WBC lightweight title and the non-title fight against Oscar De La Hoya from Saturday night.
In the breakdown, the $30,000 will be paid for Pacquiao’s shot against Marquez while the remaining $50,000 will be the fee for his rematch against De La Hoya.
Originally, the Mexico-based WBC instructed Pacquiao to pay $100,000 for the planned inactivity of defending his title against anybody in the top 15 of his division. But Gacal asked to reduce the prize to $60,000, until it went down to $50,000. Gacal and Sulaiman resolved the issue last Friday.
For the meantime, Manny is retaining the belt,” Gacal said.
