Pacquiao relinquishes IBF title

The Philippines was left without a world boxing champion once more when Manny Pacquiao yielded his International Boxing Federation (IBF) superbantamweight title yesterday and paved the way for leading available contender Jose Luis Valbuena to face Israel Vasquez for the vacant throne.

Pacquiao gained recognition from the prestigious monthly publication Ring Magazine as the consensus world featherweight champion for his November knockout win over Marco Antonio Barrera but the feat was ignored by the global alphabet soup governing bodies which recognize their own titleholders. In effect, he is the uncrowned champion with no belt from the World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA) or the IBF.

Pacquiao’s business manager Rod Nazario instructed his son Roberto, based in San Francisco, to submit a tender of $250,000 the other day to IBF president Marian Muhammad in New Jersey in the purse bid for a mandatory defense against Valbuena. The IBF set a deadline that lapsed this morning (Manila time) for the bidding.

But Nazario’s son never got to submit the bid. Pacquiao’s US promoter Murad Muhammad overtook the bid and decided, after consulting with Nazario in an overseas phonecall, to rule out the tender.

Muhammad told Nazario it was "ridiculous" to make a $250,000 bid because under the 75-25 share for the champion and challenger, Pacquiao’s cut would be only $170,000–a far cry from the $500,000 paycheck he got for halting Barrera in San Antonio.

Valbuena’s agent Oscar de la Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions hinted of making a $1 Million bid but Nazario knew it was a bluff. De la Hoya positioned for Valbuena to rake in at least $250,000 for the fight.

Nazario proved too smart to take the bait. He said Valbuena was overvalued at $250,000 and deserved no more than a $70,000 purse.

As it turned out, neither camp submitted a bid. The IBF announced the failure of the purse bidding and later confirmed Pacquiao’s voluntary surrender of the 122-pound championship.

Nazario, who is resting in his Paranaque home after undergoing a procedure to remove stones in his right kidney at the Medical Center Manila, said he gave Muhammad the go-signal to give up Pacquiao’s belt.

Muhammad was quoted as saying with Pacquiao’s stock shooting up because of his victory over Barrera, he shouldn’t fight for less than $1 Million. A Valbuena defense would’ve earned a lot less.

Nazario said Muhammad is trying to contact promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank to firm up details for Pacquiao’s next fight. But Arum has been incommunicado since the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided his office in relation to a possible case of fraud, fight-fixing and violations of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act stipulating contract disclosures to fighters and transparency of business transactions.

Nazario said Muhammad mentioned Paulie Ayala, Oscar Larios and Juan Manuel Marquez as Pacquiao’s future opponents.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao’s US trainer Freddie Roach affirmed his desire to stay on the Filipino fighter’s team. Roach and Muhammad were recently quoted in various boxing websites badmouthing each other. They supposedly vowed never to work together again. Roach called Muhammad a thief while Muhammad accused Roach of trying to muscle in for a bigger piece of Pacquiao’s business.

Pacquiao settled the dispute by guaranteeing Roach a 10 percent share of his future gross purses and assuring Muhammad that their business contract will remain in force at least until it expires on Jan. 31, 2005.