Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum. File Photo
Manny Pacquiao’s already strained relationship with former promotional firm Top Rank took a turn for the worse.
The boxing legend took time off his duties as a senator to threaten Top Rank with lawsuits for failing to remit his share of the television earnings from his fight with Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last July 15.
Pacquiao alleged that Top Rank, led by its flamboyant boss Bob Arum, is contractually bound to pay him the equivalent of 85 percent of the TV earnings when the fight was shown in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico via ESPN+.
The eight-division world champion is also seeking legal remedies from what he perceives as Top Rank’s ploy to scuttle the remaining fights of his career.
Pacquiao’s legal team, according to his publicist Aquiles Zonio, is preparing the documents needed to file the cases against Top Rank and several other individuals.
The development did not only put another wrench on Pacquiao’s relationship with Top Rank, which reached its peak during his glory days as the top pound-for-pound fighter several years ago.
It also jeopardized Top Rank’s risky plan to pit the 39-year-old Pacquiao against current welterweight champion Terence Crawford, who is much younger.
Pacquiao turns 40 on Dec. 17 while Crawford will be 31 by Sept. 28.
Pacquiao and Top Rank agreed last March 27 for Arum’s outfit to air the fight with an 85-15 split of the revenues.
Pacquiao’s legal team already wrote Top Rank to demand payment but the latter has refused to address the issue, according to the Filipino ring icon.
Meanwhile, British welterweight Amir Khan, a possible Pacquiao foe, continued his comeback with a points win over Samuel Vargas in Birmingham on Saturday.
Khan wants to take on either fellow Englishman Kell Brook or Pacquiao next.