‘GBP can’t stop Pacquiao-Solis fight’

Manny Pacquiao’s legal counsel is confident that the court injunction filed by Golden Boy Promotions to prevent the Filipino boxer from climbing the ring on April 14 in San Antonio, Texas, will not prosper.

"I really don’t think so," said Filipino lawyer Franklin Gacal yesterday amid reports that GBP is just awaiting a court decision that would force Top Rank to call off Pacquiao’s coming fight against Jorge Solis. (More Pacquiao stories on Page 19)

Gacal said they knew about the court injunction that was filed even before Pacquiao left for Los Angeles last Saturday to resume his training for his coming fight against the undefeated Solis.

"The worst case scenario of course is for the fight to be stopped. But we’re confident that this won’t happen. So for us, the next worst case scenario is that Top Rank’s earnings for the fight will be withheld," he said.

"But not Manny Pacquiao’s purse," the Filipino lawyer added.

Pacquiao, who was given a guaranteed purse of $3 million for his fight with Erik Morales last Nov. 19 in Las Vegas, will probably get the same amount this time, including his shares from television revenues.

Gacal said Top Rank owner Bob Arum knows the ins and outs of boxing that he wouldn’t have set the fight in the US if he knew that a court injunction might ruin the show.

The fight was originally set in Macau, not against Solis but Korean Injin Chi. But problems with the availability of hotel rooms and a venue that could pack more than 10,000 forced Top Rank to look for a new venue.

And since there’s an ongoing case between Top Rank and GBP on which outfit is the rightful promoter of the Pinoy superstar, the next venue that was considered was Vancouver, Canada.

But again, for one reason or another, it did not push through. Then came the Alamodome in San Antonio Texas, the site of Pacquiao’s sensational knockout win over Marco Antonio Barrera in November of 2003.

Richard Schaefer, chief executive officer of GBP, said they were surprised that Pacquiao filed a case against GBP "claiming that he signed a seven-fight contract with Oscar de la Hoya in mid-September under duress."

Schaefer said GBP owner Oscar de la Hoya was "surprised because he believed one fighter should not sue the other" and because of the case filed by Pacquiao "really had no choice but to sue him as well."

Two months after signing the seven-fight contract with GBP, Pacquiao signed a longer contract with Top Rank.

The fight over Pacquiao contract had gone to court and may take time to settle.

Noted boxing analyst Michael Marley of boxingconfidential.com wrote that the chances of the Pacquiao-Solis fight being stopped "are slim and none, and, as the old line goes, slim is out of town."

"No judge is going to prevent Pacman (Pacquiao) from earning a living because of the ongoing legal dispute over his promotional rights between Oscar de la Hoya and Bob Arum," Marley wrote.

"The Top Rank card will go on as scheduled April 14 although the news about GBP’s seeking to put a screeching halt to the card may hurt Arum with potential sponsors and other third parties who do not want to get dragged into the matter. There is also a chance that GBP could get some of Top Rank’s income from the PPV (pay-per-view) show in Texas tied up but that is another slim reed."