A different take on a Pac thread. IMO Pac would've had a different career had he stayed with Murad. Murad got him the fights with Ledwaba, Morales & Marquez. Murad: "I would have never picked Freddie Roach because I didn't know him. Manny's Pop said Freddie Roach was trained by Eddie Futch. I said, Anybody that was trained by Eddie Futch is okay with me." He say he could've chosen others but he respected the choice, can anyone confirm this ? A Murad Claim: "When I first signed him, no one cared about Manny Pacquiao" Murad's defense of being sued: " the law required that taxes be withheld if payment was made to a foreigner like Pacquiao, but if an American corporation was paid, taxes could be paid at a later date." I interpret this to mean, he witheld $. But those who passed him up, were telling him he was being screwed, when he just started to get televised. I could see this if Murad had doen this for some years or several fights, but by Morales1st fight? IMO a little too soon to claim he's being swindled. Murad: "Now that Pacquiao’s making big money, everybody’s trying to get a piece of him by stealing him from me. I maneuvered him into the money position by taking a gamble on the Juan Manuel Marquez fight (which was fought to a draw in 2004). Manny made $750,000 for that fight and I made no money. Then, it was a miracle that I got him $1.75 million for Morales IMO had he stayed with Murad, he would've had more losses because Murad was putting him in with the best, no questions, no haggling or maneuvering, rather line em up. In my boldest opinion, Murad would've steered him toward unification because no one can question a unified champion. Not sure if Manny would've pulled it off in every class he moved to. With Arum IMO is when the catchweight stuff started. Looking at guys like David Diaz over Juan Diaz, Casamayor the lineal champ or then undefeated Michael Kastidis & even Paul Williams IMO would've been looked at as a potential matches under Murad, but not Arum. Sidenote: All the stuff about Floyd claiming Manny used fear of needles was B.S...well based on a few old articles by Murad....Floyd's theory is B.S. Murad said Manny was the most superstitious fighter he'd ever met. Had to go to certain places, had to have a routine. Do U guys think Manny did right by going to Arum? One article I read talked about how Murad told Manny that his way to get him fights was 1. taking on short notice. this brought about the Ledwaba fight. 2. He stated in the article that he also told Manny that he could gurantee him t.v. time as undercards. But because the promoter game was locked up so tight- it was hard to get title fights unless the other promoter gets a piece, so his idea was: Take the short notice fights, get t.v. exposure on undercards and the people will swoon over you Manny, once they see your style. And then! That is when he get the big money fights without me having to give in to the other promoter. Murad got him a 1.75 million fight? In that short period? And was called corrupt? But not Arum? Thought?
Murad was a crook, and so was Arum. But Arum did a better job of promoting and managing imo, Murad just threw him to the wolves and cashed out.
Lol at Juan Diaz and katsidis. C level guys suppose to pose a threat? Katsidis would have gotten it worse than Hatton and Juan Diaz would have gotten the David/Rios treatment. Only guys that would have posed a threat to Pac below 147 were Guzman and Valero. I think he would have outworked Guzman and outboxes Valero it stopped him. If the guy you’re fighting will beat the guy you didn’t fight, then that’s all that matters. I would have preferred Mikey-Loma but I’ve no doubt that Spence was a tougher challenge. Losing to Loma would just hurt his career more. Same with the likes of cotto, odlh, hatton, Mosley, Margo, clottey would all destroy any LWs Pac could have faced except for the 2 I mentioned above. Staying at LW would have been by far the easier route. It’s a bit like saying Canelo campaigning at LHW is easier than campaigning at MW. No.
