MANNY Pacquiao asked for and received a substantial amount of money as an advance from broadcast network ABS-CBN after he signed an agreement giving the network the telecast rights for his May 2 fight with Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.Standard Today, www.insidesports.ph and Viva Sports learned about the advance amid indications that Pacquiao repeated what he did when he first signed up with Golden Boy Promotions, received $500,000, including $250,000 in cash from Oscar de la Hoya and just as quickly turned around and signed a contract with Top Rank Promotions for which he reportedly received $1 million.
On Thursday, Pacquiao announced on ABS-CBN that he was moving to the network, which aired some of his previous fights and gave him $4 million to bankroll his fight against Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum.
But he had a change of heart after a meeting with Solar Sports president Wilson Tieng and chief operating officer Peter Chanliong, as well as lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal, Canadian adviser Michael Koncz and business manager Eric Pineda, among others.
While it was Pacquiao, who personally announced that he had approached ABS-CBN, which was confirmed by Solar Sports vice president for marketing Jude Turcuarto on the Saturday afternoon show of former Senator Freddie Webb on dzMM, it was Gacal who made the announcement on TV regarding his change of heart.
Flanked by Koncz and Pineda, Gacal read Pacquiao’s statement, where he apologized to his fans for the confusion caused by his flip-flopping.
In fact, Gacal informed ABS-CBN vice president for Sports Peter Musngi that Pacquiao wanted to meet with him to personally apologize, and perhaps, return the money, but as of press time, the meeting had not taken place. Pacquiao wanted the ABS-CBN executive to go to his Palazzo apartment which, at that time, was crowded with people from Solar Sports, GMA-7 and the people who usually hang around him.
Malacañang entered the picture as Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, in an interview over radio station dzBB, said: “We are all fans of Pacquiao. He has given much honor to the country. He has become a unifying factor. I am glad our friend has settled the matter with Solar Sports.”
Meantime, conditioning expert Alex Ariza laughed off claims that Pacquiao had a hard time against Jorge Linares last Thursday and said they wished the World Boxing Association champion would give him a good workout but he didn’t.
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