Manny in crossfire of warring factions

The war isn’t over in Las Vegas. In Manny Pacquiao’s camp, it’s just beginning as the battle lines are drawn to demarcate who’s on which side of the fence.

Trainer Freddie Roach is on one side and he’s backed up by Pacquiao’s new manager Shelly Finkel while New Jersey promoter Murad Muhammad is on the other.

There’s no love lost between Roach and Muhammad. They don’t trust or like each other. For Pacquiao’s sake, they’ve tried to be as civil to one another. But their relationship is like a volcano waiting to erupt. They’re sitting on a powder keg and the detonator is almost pushed in.

Muhammad has accused Roach of trying to overstep his function as a trainer. He said Roach once foisted himself as the head of a new management company that would take care of Pacquiao’s business affairs.

Roach, however, said he’s only out to protect Pacquiao’s interests because he’s like a father to him. He claimed Muhammad has systematically ripped off Pacquiao in negotiating his US fights.

Of course, Muhammad isn’t in the fight business for nothing. It’s a living for him just as it’s a living for Pacquiao and Roach. Although he heads the promotions company M&M Sports, Muhammad doesn’t really promote Pacquiao’s matches. He finds other promoters to foot the bill and makes sure Pacquiao has a sizable purse. What he negotiates over and above Pacquiao’s acceptable purse is what he earns. The problem is nobody knows how much that is and there is speculation he may be pocketing more than Pacquiao himself. Whether that’s true or not is beside the point, according to Muhammad’s supporters. For as long as Pacquiao is guaranteed an acceptable purse, it shouldn’t matter how much Muhammad takes to the bank as his piece of the pie.

Pacquiao was assured of a $1.75 million purse for facing Erik Morales last Saturday night (Sunday morning, Manila). But a rumor has spread that his actual purse was $2.8 million as negotiated by Muhammad with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum. If the rumor is true, then Muhammad stood to clear over $1 million in the fight. Another rumor spread that Pacquiao has no share in the pay-per-view receipts because Muhammad took it instead.

Finkel hinted that there were clauses in the Pacquiao-Morales contract, affirmed by Muhammad, he wanted to renegotiate. Whether or not he would be successful in untying what is in effect a done deal is a question mark. The contract was negotiated before Finkel signed up as Pacquiao’s new manager last month.

Finkel is not a promoter. That means if he now assumes the responsibility of negotiating fight contracts for Pacquiao, Muhammad could be left out in the cold unless M&M Sports picks up the tab as promoter.

Under the terms of a recent contract signed by Pacquiao, Muhammad has the promotional rights to the fighter’s next two outings. If Finkel will not recognize Muhammad’s rights, a lawsuit could surface.

Roach recently took a swipe at Muhammad for failing to consult Pacquiao on his choice of gloves for the Morales fight. The Japanese-made Winning gloves were used. Pacquiao preferred to use the Mexican-made Cleto Reyes gloves.

Muhammad said the brand of gloves had no bearing on the outcome of the fight. Roach thought otherwise.

Muhammad also went on the offensive against Roach and chastised him for not taking care of Pacquiao’s retina examination a month ago. He said the oversight led to the mandatory test two days before the fight. Roach denied Muhammad’s accusation and said he arranged for Pacquiao’s test some weeks back but the clinic lost the examination results. Muhammad accused Roach of lying.

"No one can tell me that I haven’t produced," Muhammad, who has a long history of arranging fights under the HBO banner, told Cris Cozzone of fightnews.com. "Pacquiao is an international superstar. But what is it I’m hearing? I’m hearing Roach criticizing me for agreeing on Morales’ brand of gloves? With all due respect, these gloves are insignificant. Maybe, Freddie ought to be more concerned about how he wraps Manny’s hands than what gloves he puts on. If legendary trainer Eddie Futch was alive, he’d smack Roach. You do not poison the mind of your boxer. You had nothing to do with who and where he will fight.

"So why is Freddie angry with me? He uses the word ‘thief’ but he has no ground to stand on. I was investigated by the FBI and I came out clean under their close scrutiny. Who is Freddie Roach? He may be a great trainer but that does not make him a rocket scientist. It definitely does not make him a businessman or a promoter."

Roach said he just wants to protect Pacquiao.

"Murad is the promoter right now but what does he really do?" said Roach quoted by Joe Rein of fightworld.us. "Arum was the lead promoter in the Morales fight. All Murad did was bring Manny to the table because he has him under contract. We’ll see after the fight what happens, if that contract is still valid. Manny asked me for help so I gave him help. He wanted me to put a team together so I did that. He spoke with Shelly and they liked each other and they did a deal. Manny’s very happy with the new team. He’s got the lawyers looking out for him.

"I told Shelly, I just want you to be honest with Manny and give him what he’s supposed to get. People are paying to see him. The promoter deserves to get something but not more than the fighter. Before Manny signed his last contract with Murad, Arum called me up and he negotiated this deal with me: It’s the exact same pay day we’re making now. A guarantee plus 40 percent of the upside after pay-per-view breakeven. The upside was going 100 percent to Manny. But now the upside is going to Murad.

"Murad told me he’s coming after me. Well, come on, if you’re coming, because I’m right here."