Manny Pacquiao has to clean up the mess surrounding his out-of-the-ring activities before he enters the ring for another fight.
That’s the view of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Luis “Chavit” Singson, a former friend of Pacquiao turned foe.
Manny Pacquiao
Singson, who offered Pacquiao the chance to fight MMA legend Bob Sapp earlier this month, says the eight-weight champ needs to sort out his legal struggles.
“I think he really needs to fix his problem with Paradigm Sports Management first before accepting any tune-up fights,” Singson told Philstar.
“I don’t know about the lawsuit, but Manny should settle it [pending court case] first than not.
“He really needs to settle all those problems, not only the court case but also his other concerns to other people, so that he can get a good tune-up fight.
“If there’s no hindrance, that would be nice.”
Another of Pacquiao’s former pals, Jayke Joson, agrees with Singson.
“Manong Chavit knows the ins and outs of life. He’s been in many struggles and won all the fights he encountered,” said Joson.
“I agree with him that Manny should settle his issue with Paradigm first before entertaining any offers,” he added.
Paradigm Shift
Audie Attar of Paradigm Sports Management began suing Pacquiao for breach of contract in late June of 2021. He filed a motion to stop Pacquiao from participating in a fight with Errol Spence Jr.
As it turned out, Spence had to pull out before Yordenis Ugas stepped in. Pacquiao lost and subsequently retired.
Now that he wants to fight again and has an exhibition lined up for December against combat YouTuber DK Yoo, it’s not sure that he will clear everything up.
Pacquiao also filed a cross-complaint against Paradigm Sports in which he accused Paradigm of breach of conduct, among other things.
“Manny Pacquiao’s cross-complaint filed (Friday) reveals in detail the complete sham nature of Paradigm’s complaint,” Pacquiao attorney Dale Kinsella said in a statement.
“We look forward to exposing Paradigm’s conduct in front of a jury and recovering both general and punitive damages.”
Mikey Garcia
Paradigm Sports were unhappy that a negotiated fight against Mikey Garcia in Dubai fell apart. They secured Pacquiao a $25 million guaranteed purse and a share of the net profits.
Pacquiao, however, failed to sign the bout agreement and moved on from Paradigm, who say the Filipino had promised to seal the deal.
“After verbally accepting Paradigm’s fight offer, Pacquiao tweeted that he is participating in the Spence bout, which he never discussed with Paradigm in violation of Pacquiao’s express contractual obligations.
“Pacquiao’s blatant violation of Paradigm’s exclusivity rights caused Paradigm to suffer money damages consisting of the revenue it would have earned on the Pacquiao/Garcia fight and the $3.3 million advance Pacquiao has kept; as well as irreparable injury to its reputation.”
Pacquiao was also due to fight Conor McGregor until the Irishman lost to Dustin Poirier. The whole Paradigm plan went up in smoke.
Further attempts to reschedule got hampered by McGregor breaking his leg in the Poirier loss. The situation looked doomed from the start.
Pacquiao counters
Countering Paradigm, Pacquiao argued: “PSM frivolously seeks to enjoin that bout based on a series of fraudulent promises, contractual and fiduciary breaches, and shady backroom dealings with one of Pacquiao’s trusted advisors without Pacquiao’s knowledge or consent.
“To say that PSM has unlawfully attempted to take advantage of Pacquiao is an understatement.”
His statement added: “To further induce Pacquiao into an agreement, PSM also falsely promised that it had eight endorsement deals already “lined up” for Pacquiao.
“That PSM would advance Pacquiao $4 million if he signed an agreement for PSM to serve as his manager.
“In reality, PSM never intended to arrange a bout between Pacquiao and McGregor,” said the claims.
It certainly is a mess, but whether it gets sorted in the next four months is highly unlikely.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
