By: James Blears
Ignacio Beristain, the veteran manager of WBA and IBF Featherweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez is warning that the much anticipated re-match between his fighter and Manny Pacquiao will be in serious jeopardy unless Top Rank starts to get a lot more realistic about the purse money on offer.
Beristain dropped the bombshell during a rigorous workout by Juan Manuel at the Gilberto Roman gym in Mexico City. Juan has been training since November and brushed aside the festive season holidays, even coming to the gym on Christmas Day!
Beristain is also single minded focused, but currently on the financial, rather than the physical aspect of the pending mega fight. He confided: “There are a lot of difficulties not just a few in the negotiations for Juan Manuel’s purse. Bob Arum’s son (Todd Du Boef) and Fernando Beltran are proving a bit difficult. I hope that by mid January, but no longer, we should have a deal concluded but if not I don’t think there’s going to be a fight.”
Don Ignacio explained the main sticking point lies not with Du Boef who he’s not spoke with, but Fernando Beltran who he claims is offering: “a ridiculous amount. Half as much as my fighter wants. We want more because Juan Manuel is the champion. I consider this to be an abuse. We want money not peanuts.
“We want a minimum of 1.5 million dollars, and they’re offering about half of that.
“We want this fight to go ahead. Juan has been working exceptionally hard in the preparation. And we want to show the fans Juan’s class as a fighter, in order to gain access to better pay days.”
Don Ignacio who says he’s determined that he won’t be subject to the whims of two young men, warned that unless there’s progress, the next step is to seek copies of the relevant contracts to study the possibilities of a dispute procedure, with a view to making Juan Manuel a free agent.
