Looks like boxer-cum-senator Manny Pacquiao and promoter Bob Arum will not be kissing and making up.
Pacquiao sent a press release to the media yesterday to announce that he is preparing to sue Arum’s company, Top Rank, for allegedly failing to pay him the broadcast earnings from his fight versus Lucas Matthyse in Kuala Lumpur in July this year.
Top Rank allegedly owes Pacquiao’s company, MP Productions for airing the fight in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico through the streaming service ESPN Plus, allegedly without Pacquiao’s consent.
Based on the contract, Top Rank was only allowed to broadcast the fight outside the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, and their respective territories. But through Top Rank’s partnership with ESPN Plus, the fight was aired in those areas.
Pacquiao alleged that Top Rank is required to give him 85 percent of the TV earnings, The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Pacquiao’s camp has already asked ESPN to produce documents showing how much they earned from broadcasting the fight through the streaming platform.
According to Pacquiao’s team, they have already sent a letter to Top Rank demanding that they hand over the earnings from the World Boxing Association welterweight bout, but the company failed to do so.
Pacquiao used to be managed by Arum, but in March, the former’s lawyer Eldibrando Viernesto announced that the boxer’s contract with Arum has already expired in 2017. Viernesto said the last fight in the contract was the one against Australian Jeff Horn, which Pacquiao lost.
The boxer won his fight against Matthyse in a seventh-round technical knockout.
According to Spin.ph and Rappler, Pacquiao posted on Instagram and Twitter last night a photo showing him fighting in the ring with the caption: “[I] have not received the US rights payment for my July 15 fight against Lucas Matthysse that was broadcast on ESPN plus. Therefore, I am initiating legal proceedings against Top Rank and all other parties based on the non-payment and attempt to restrict my future rights.”
When Coconuts Manila checked the post today, the caption has been removed.
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