Pacman to earn $26M from bout

MANILA, Philippines - The BIR will jump on Manny Pacquiao once he returns home from his fight against Timothy Bradley.

Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, said the other day the 33-year-old boxing icon will make no less than $26 million or roughly P1.18 billion for his next fight.

“Manny Pacquiao is guaranteed twenty-six million dollars,” the energetic chief of Top Rank Promotions told ESNewsReporting.com.

On paper, Pacquiao is the richest congressman in the Philippines, and with what he’s getting next he’s expected to stay that way.

The fight with Bradley takes place at the MGM Grand on June 9.

It’s the biggest fight purse so far for Pacquiao who made $15 million against Oscar dela Hoya, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley, and $20 million against Juan Manuel Marquez last November.

Pacquiao stands to earn a few millions more in pay-per-view, ticket sales and others.

Bradley, the undefeated American, is guaranteed $5 million. He has never earned so much from a single fight.

Pacquiao always makes news, even with what he does outside the ring.

A few days ago, the congressman from Sarangani made the headlines for his stand against same-sex marriage, a stand that drew stern reactions from the gay community.

But Pacquiao has clarified that he has nothing against gays, except that he’s not in favor of same-sex marriage.

The issue has been “put to death.”

Earlier this year, he was all over the news for his brush with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for what was initially played up as tax evasion.

In 2008, Pacquiao was the country’s top individual taxpayer in the country when he paid taxes amounting to P125 million. But the BIR said last year he only paid P7 million.

Pacquiao is no tax-evader, and the BIR cleared him of such act. But there’s a problem with his documentations, and days ago the BIR said he has yet to comply.

“Maybe he’s busy with his training,” said the BIR chief, Kim Henares, adding that for the meantime they won’t be bugging Pacquiao.

“As much as we can, we’re giving him the opportunity because we don’t want to be blamed (if he loses to Bradley),” she told a local broadsheet.

The BIR can’t wait for Pacquiao to come home.