By Hector Echevarria
It’s a shame to hear tales of fighters that have made large sums of money in boxing and then their careers are over, with nothing to show for it. Manny Pacquiao is headed down that road. How does a fighter, who some may say has made over 100 million dollars over the past two years, still take advances on fight purses?
I’ll tell you, it is because no one in his inner circle cares enough to step up and ask the right questions. Michael Koncz, Manny Pacquiao’s manager, has never mentioned renegotiations for Manny’s contract with Top Rank; especially not through the media outlet. A standard promotional contract is roughly 15% to a promoter, so why is Pacquiao still paying 27% to his promoter? That’s not fair business.
What people don’t realize is the fact that his endorsement contracts are handled by his boxing promoter, which is not the norm. Most athletes have a business manager and boxers have a specific boxing manager/adviser in most cases. It was reported last year by Fighthype’s Ben Thompson that Pacquiao sought out the services of the high power accounting firm Vision Quest, in order to straighten out his books.
Vision Quest had to ask Top Rank to turn over revenue documents from Manny’s last few fights (back in 2010) and instead they were stone walled by Top Rank. I find that odd and I don’t understand why no one from his camp spoke up about it. What’s more shocking is Manny had to borrow money from the accounting firm to even start the investigation; a fighter that supposedly made $25million having to ask for money is somewhat baffling.
At the end of the day, things will stay like this until someone takes a stand on these types of issues, because the fighter clearly is happy with being spoon fed. The saddest aspect is the people around him like his father, brother, and best friend Buboy keeping silent (or too naive to be aware). So ask yourself, does anyone care about Manny Pacquiao or do they care only about not messing with their own pockets?
If you read my previous entourage article, you would know that some fighters are either too trusting with the people around them or don’t realize some of the company they keep will end up being their downfall or keeping them afloat. Now as fans, maybe it’s not our duty to care of what happens in situations like this. But as fans, I feel we should understand the severity of the situations some fighters are in, and the reason they take the certain fights they take.
Boxing is a dirty game sometimes, and maybe Pacquiao deciding to try and jump ship to Golden Boy was a sign of what was going on. Who knows? But money makes the world go round and it certainly does for boxing.