BOB Arum of Top Rank, while admitting there is nothing wrong
about paying a contracted employee with cash, called the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny
Pacquiao deal last Sept. 19 "unprofessional and inappropriate."
"Come on, give me a break," Arum was quoted as saying by the
Los Angeles Times. "What legitimate business person pays someone with 12,500 $20
bills in a suitcase?"
Last November, Arum announced he had signed Pacquiao to a
multi-fight contract, with the Pinoy boxing icon set to headline a Top Rank
boxing card in San Antonio on April 14.
"I told Oscar that Manny likes cash, he likes to deal in
cash, he pays people in cash," the Times quoted Freddie Roach as saying
Wednesday in Hollywood, where he appeared to help De La Hoya promote his May 5
fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. "I didn’t think there was anything wrong with
it. Actually, Manny wanted more cash."
Roach also claimed that Arum also relied on cash to persuade
Pacquiao to withdraw from the Golden Boy contract and sign with Top Rank.
"Arum gave Manny $1 million in cash right after Manny’s
birthday (last December)," Roach said. "I don’t know if it was wired to him, or
given to him in person, but Manny told me when it happened, ‘I got a million in
cash.’"
Arum, however, denied Roach’s claim, saying it is "not true.
I’ve never given Manny five cents in cash. We never pay in cash. Freddie’s
lying, he’s absolutely lying. Manny got a $500,000 check from us, and another
$500,000 check to pay back Golden Boy."
Roach, who in January signed for $1.3 million to prepare De
La Hoya to fight Mayweather, said he doesn’t believe the cash from Golden Boy
was an illegal or under-the-table inducement.
As part of Golden Boy’s lawsuit against Top Rank, it included
a contract that said Pacquiao would be paid a $350,000 signing bonus and a
$150,000 advance for his first purse with Golden Boy.
Richard Schaefer, the Golden Boy executive who met with
Pacquiao at the steakhouse, did not admit any cash exchange, but said the form
of payment to Pacquiao was irrelevant. Pacquiao received at least one check as a
bonus payment, according to Schaefer.
"We would never engage in any illegal acts, and if there is anyone who is
accusing us of illegal acts, we will go after them in court to the full extent
of the law," Schaefer said. "What form of payment Manny Pacquiao received
doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not an illegal action. And it wasn’t."
