Media union hits assault on photog by Manny’s men

A PHILIPPINE media union demanded Thursday that Manny Pacquiao punish two members of his camp after they allegedly assaulted a photographer moments after his brutal knockout by Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez  in Las Vegas last Sunday.

Widely circulated photographs showed a man in a training suit lashing out with a leg from inside the ropes at a man with a camera below as a mob of people swarmed onto the ring.

Captions accompanying the photograph identified the man in the training suit as Pacquiao’s assistant coach Buboy Fernandez and the photographer as Al Bello of Getty Images.

A second man in a grey suit shown grabbing the back of the cameraman was identified as Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz.

The staff objected to their fighter being photographed while face down and apparently unconscious on the floor, some reports have suggested.

“It is clear that Bello was merely performing his obligations as a photojournalist and, besides, had every right to take pictures of the fallen Pacquiao,” the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said. AFP