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Was Pacquiao shortchanged?
By Ronnie Nathanielz
The Manny Pacquiao Web site, which served as a tremendous boost to the career of the flamboyant Filipino southpaw, has regrettably degenerated into a site for fanatics who don’t have a clue about what really happened in the days leading up to the epic battle with Erik “El Terrible” Morales or what transpired during and immediately after the fight.
Worse still, it has become a venue for vicious and slanderous statements, unsubstantiated accusations and foul language, which have regrettably resulted in turning off genuine fight fans and undermined the integrity of the site while at the same time hurting the image of Pacquiao.
We all love and admire Pacquiao. We have referred to him as “a national treasure” and we salute his incredible courage and gallantry in the ring. His performance against Morales was a tribute not just to himself but to the entire nation because it showed the world the kind of inner strength, bravery and character of the Filipino. But this doesn’t mean that Pacquiao can do no wrong or does not make mistakes. Neither does it — or should it — take anything away from Morales and before him Juan Manuel Marquez, who rose from three knockdowns in the very first round to salvage a draw, controversial though it may have been in the eyes of many.
Truth to tell, those of us who have chronicled the exciting career of Pacquiao who were in Los Angeles to watch him train and then moved to Las Vegas at the same time he did, sensed that all was not right.
As Nick Giongco of the Manila Bulletin has so ably stated along with Abac Cordero of the Philippine Star and Recah Trinidad of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pacquiao was surrounded by a gathering of new faces who failed to understand or appreciate the demands of the fight game and were there only for the ride. To us, the new management team of Shelly Finkel as well as trainer Freddie Roach should be held responsible because they had effectively cordoned off the members of the longtime Team Pacquiao led by business manager Rod Nazario, who had always protected Pacquiao from hangers-on and made sure he was totally focused on the task at hand. However, in fairness to Pacquiao, he did show up at the Vagabond Inn where they were staying and on occasions met Nazario and embraced him like old times.
From what we have gathered, Roach and Finkel discussed taking over management of Pacquiao one year ago which is clearly unethical because Pacquiao had a management contract with Marty Elorde. You can claim that Elorde did nothing for Pacquiao but that doesn’t exonerate those who were guilty of tampering. The undeniable fact is that Elorde offered Pacquiao P10 million for a contract extension of five years and a group of well-meaning and financially capable friends of World Boxing Council founding secretary general Rudy Salud offered to up the amount for only a two-and-a-half-year deal.
We ourselves suggested to Pacquiao that he didn’t need a manager and could keep the 25 or 30 percent to himself instead of giving it away.
We will soon detail what transpired and how the Finkel group got Pacquiao to sign a two-year management contract as well as provide a breakdown of how much was ripped off Pacquiao’s purse for the Morales fight. We will also provide as objectively and fairly as humanly possible, a detailed rundown of what happened in the fight so that fight fans will understand why Pacquiao lost and be fair and honest in paying tribute to Morales, who deservedly won and earned our respect as one of the great Mexican champions of our time.
Let us not cheapen Pacquiao’s performance by making excuses about the gloves, the referee, the head-butt, the public officials who went to Las Vegas and everything else.
Let us be men and admit that on that night Morales was the better prepared fighter, with a cool and calculating corner unlike the Pacquiao corner which was in chaos and that Morales executed a well thought out fight plan and hope that Pacquiao and his team will do the right thing next time around and that Pacquiao will avenge his defeat.
By Ronnie Nathanielz
The Manny Pacquiao Web site, which served as a tremendous boost to the career of the flamboyant Filipino southpaw, has regrettably degenerated into a site for fanatics who don’t have a clue about what really happened in the days leading up to the epic battle with Erik “El Terrible” Morales or what transpired during and immediately after the fight.
Worse still, it has become a venue for vicious and slanderous statements, unsubstantiated accusations and foul language, which have regrettably resulted in turning off genuine fight fans and undermined the integrity of the site while at the same time hurting the image of Pacquiao.
We all love and admire Pacquiao. We have referred to him as “a national treasure” and we salute his incredible courage and gallantry in the ring. His performance against Morales was a tribute not just to himself but to the entire nation because it showed the world the kind of inner strength, bravery and character of the Filipino. But this doesn’t mean that Pacquiao can do no wrong or does not make mistakes. Neither does it — or should it — take anything away from Morales and before him Juan Manuel Marquez, who rose from three knockdowns in the very first round to salvage a draw, controversial though it may have been in the eyes of many.
Truth to tell, those of us who have chronicled the exciting career of Pacquiao who were in Los Angeles to watch him train and then moved to Las Vegas at the same time he did, sensed that all was not right.
As Nick Giongco of the Manila Bulletin has so ably stated along with Abac Cordero of the Philippine Star and Recah Trinidad of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pacquiao was surrounded by a gathering of new faces who failed to understand or appreciate the demands of the fight game and were there only for the ride. To us, the new management team of Shelly Finkel as well as trainer Freddie Roach should be held responsible because they had effectively cordoned off the members of the longtime Team Pacquiao led by business manager Rod Nazario, who had always protected Pacquiao from hangers-on and made sure he was totally focused on the task at hand. However, in fairness to Pacquiao, he did show up at the Vagabond Inn where they were staying and on occasions met Nazario and embraced him like old times.
From what we have gathered, Roach and Finkel discussed taking over management of Pacquiao one year ago which is clearly unethical because Pacquiao had a management contract with Marty Elorde. You can claim that Elorde did nothing for Pacquiao but that doesn’t exonerate those who were guilty of tampering. The undeniable fact is that Elorde offered Pacquiao P10 million for a contract extension of five years and a group of well-meaning and financially capable friends of World Boxing Council founding secretary general Rudy Salud offered to up the amount for only a two-and-a-half-year deal.
We ourselves suggested to Pacquiao that he didn’t need a manager and could keep the 25 or 30 percent to himself instead of giving it away.
We will soon detail what transpired and how the Finkel group got Pacquiao to sign a two-year management contract as well as provide a breakdown of how much was ripped off Pacquiao’s purse for the Morales fight. We will also provide as objectively and fairly as humanly possible, a detailed rundown of what happened in the fight so that fight fans will understand why Pacquiao lost and be fair and honest in paying tribute to Morales, who deservedly won and earned our respect as one of the great Mexican champions of our time.
Let us not cheapen Pacquiao’s performance by making excuses about the gloves, the referee, the head-butt, the public officials who went to Las Vegas and everything else.
Let us be men and admit that on that night Morales was the better prepared fighter, with a cool and calculating corner unlike the Pacquiao corner which was in chaos and that Morales executed a well thought out fight plan and hope that Pacquiao and his team will do the right thing next time around and that Pacquiao will avenge his defeat.
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