Filipino boxing superstar, Manny Pacquiao, is “ill-advised and misguided” in turning down the opportunity for a mandatory title shot at WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, according to WBC president Jose Sulaiman.
The respected WBC chairman revealed that the WBC Board of Governors was contemplating supporting a 50-50 split of the purses of Marquez and Pacquiao if there were no successful free negotiations and it went to a purse bid set for June 18 at the WBC headquarters in an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today.
According to him, the usual 75-25 split in favor of the champion would not be followed since “nobody can deny that Pacquiao is the top super featherweight fighter of today and we all believe that they both deserve equal purses.”
Sulaiman is clearly disappointed over Pacquiao’s rejection of the mandatory challenge offer.
He said winning the WBC gold and green belt was “the dream of most fighters in the world” and it would have helped establish “who is better between Marquez and Pacquiao” following their controversial draw in 2004.
A few days ago, Pacquiao asked the WBC to name someone else as mandatory challenger in a three-paragraph letter prepared by Michael Koncz who is reportedly an adviser but is believed to be Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s eyes and ears in Team Pacquiao.
While neither fighter can think that “he is superior to the other” Marquez holds the world championship and Pacquiao does not, the WBC chairman explained. He also added that, “while his ill-advisers might tell Manny the belt is not important the records of boxing in the future will show who is more and who is less as a boxer by the world championship records that are stated forever in history.”
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