Manny Pacquiao announces live on TV Patrol, Channel 2, Wednesday night that he has signed up with ABS-CBN Corporation for the exclusive coverage of his fight with Ricky Hatton on May 2, 2009 (Manila time).  In a bold move, Pacman surprises viewers with the announcement, having been exclusive under the Solar Entertainment banner for several years.  He is now back in being a “Kapamilya.”

Minutes after the announcement, Solar releases a statement through its lawyer on 24 Oras, which is the evening news show of network counterpart, GMA.  The lawyer, Enrique Dela Cruz Jr., intimated that Pacquiao does not have control to remove its contractual obligations from Solar and transfer telecast rights to ABS-CBN.  Solar holds a live contract that run until 2012 for exclusive broadcast rights over the Pacquiao fights across all platforms.  Solar Entertainment reiterated that the contract is still valid and binding and they continue to carry the legal right to air Pacman’s fights saying that Pacquiao or ABS-CBN cannot violate that legal agreement.

Unconfirmed reports say that other than the business deal that amounts anywhere between PHP 120 Million to PHP 180 Million per fight, another underlying factor that made Pacman switch is the media support he was going to get from ABS-CBN for his electoral campaign.  ABS-CBN is dominant and very visible in the Saranggani area.  Pacman is candidly considering running again for the same congressional seat in his province General Santos city, which he lost to incumbent Congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio.

Under the ABS-CBN deal, the next fights of Pacman will be aired over the giant network and not on GMA-7, which telecast the recent fights of the world’s pound for pound king.  Solar Entertainment partnered with GMA-7 for these past fights, giving them the free TV rights to air Pacman’s bouts.  Ironically, Pacman has 2 shows under GMA’s belt, Pinoy Records which he co-hosts with Chris Tiu and Totoy Bato, where he plays the trainer of Robin Padilla in the action series.

Rumors have been spreading since early this year that Solar’s ties with Pacquiao have been severed caused by non-payment of fees that Pacman’s camp should be collecting from Solar Sports.  Solar vice president for business operations Ralph Roy also have said to denounce two Inquirer exclusives, saying that the paper put the financial state of the company in a bad light.  The owners of Solar Sports and ABS-CBN met recently where the idea of buying out Pacquiao’s contract from Solar was initially considered. 

If the case were true that Solar has been delinquent in its payment to Pacquiao then that can tantamount to breach of the agreement, which paves the route to pre-termination of the contract, provided this is one of the explicit termination effects of the agreement. 

Hatton would probably set out to be Pacquiao’s biggest and most arduous fight in his career.  Ricky Hatton is one of the premiere boxers of today and he is at the peak of his game.  When Pacquiao fought with Mexican boxing giants, Barrera, Morales, Marquez, Dela Hoya, they were at the end of their prime.  Pacquiao is said to have met his match in Hatton.  However, Pacman predicts a win as he promises to bring honor to the country once again.  Speculation boils that the winner of Pacquiao versus Hatton bout is appointed to meet Mayweather in the next fight.  

Pacquiao is set to retire after one or two more fights after Hatton.  One might be scheduled at the end of the year and another one for 2010.

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