FROM ALI TO PACQUIAO, MURAD MUHAMMAD IN HIS OWN WORDS PT. 13: LOST IN THE PACQUIAO-MARQUEZ-MORALES TRIANGLE

By Percy Crawford | February 22, 2010

"So now we're flying high with Manny Pacquiao. They wouldn't give me a date and I believed it was a conspiracy because they knew if I didn't deliver a date for Pacquiao in that year, I would lose him. So I couldn't get a date. Nobody would give me a date. I begged and begged and nobody would give me a date and I was too loyal to run to Showtime. So what do I do? I fly into the Philippines...We put big TV screens out and something like 50-feet posters of him across all of the buildings. We spent about $300,000 just in publicity. We had 60,000 people and it was one of the greatest fights because the kid was tough. We finally knocked him out in the 4th round...We were on our way. So I shut down all of the critics and all of my enemies who thought I couldn't pull off the fight and Pacquiao got paid $350,000, more than they were getting paid in America," stated promoter Murad Muhammad as he revealed more details about how Manny Pacquiao rose to stardom, including information about his fights with 3K Battery, Erik Morales and how Juan Manuel Marquez tried to leave Bob Arum in hopes of getting the immediate rematch. Don't miss this behind-the-scenes look into the history of the sport as Murad himself tells his story in his own words. From Muhammad Ali to Manny Pacquiao, he has worked alongside some of the biggest names in boxing and you don't want to miss more of his extremely revealing tales. Check it out...

So I take Kerry Davis and everything I told Kerry, I did, and that's why he's the Executive Vice President. They had to give it to him because we turned Roy Jones Jr. around. We made him a phenomenon at HBO. I got plaques on my wall engraved with gold plates that say, "Thank you Murad, from Seth Abraham." The [Virgil] Hill fight and the fights at Radio City Music Hall and at Conseco Fieldhouse show that Seth believed in Murad Muhammad because I never told Seth a lie. I never begged Seth for something that I didn't have. So my relationship with HBO is tremendous and it's tremendous because when I come there and say, "Mark, we don't want to sign a contract; we want to go pay-per-view," he says, "I'm with you Murad. Success!" There is not one pay-per-view that I did with Mark Taffet that was not a success.

So now we're flying high with Manny Pacquiao. They wouldn't give me a date and I believed it was a conspiracy because they knew if I didn't deliver a date for Pacquiao in that year, I would lose him. So I couldn't get a date. Nobody would give me a date. I begged and begged and nobody would give me a date and I was too loyal to run to Showtime. So what do I do? I fly into the Philippines. I came there for one day. I only had clothes for one day. I stayed there for a whole month trying to find out how I'm going to create a fight in the Philippines. So I'm watching the TV and I'm looking at the papers and then I got it. I found a guy that was one of the richest men in the Philippines. His name was Manny Pangilinan. I said, "How am I going to get to this man?"

The man owned every communications company of power, not only in the Philippines, but the whole Asian world. So I found this guy, who was the Mayor of a city, without the country recognizing it as a city. I drove in to see him. He said, "I used to work for Manny. I could get you to him, but promise me, if you pull this off, you will put it in my city." I said, "First of all, you just told me that your city is not recognized as a city. And second of all, where is your arena?" I said, "I would like to go to Muhammad Ali's Arena." He said, "Murad, do it for the little people. The little people here have never seen a major fight and will never be able to have a major fight unless you make this deal." I said, "You know what? I like that. Let's do it." In five minutes, he had Manny Pangilinan on the phone. I said, "Sir, my name is Murad Muhammad." Bing, bing, bing! I said, "Where are you now?" He said, "Thailand." I said, "I will be right there." He said, "No, I will be home in about 3 days. I will meet you in my office." We met him in his office and within 20 minutes, he said, "Murad, I like it! Done deal!" He told his people to make the deal.

We have a guy named Ronald, my Executive Vice President, and he's one of the biggest men in the state of New Jersey. He took over the police department, fire department and homeland security. He's known for taking the youth center that was under the great Joe Clark of "Lean on Me" who had them all in straight jackets. They couldn't control it at the County Jail, so the FBI took it over. Ronald went in there for 2 ½ years, after 19 years with the Feds, and took the straight jackets off of them and started dealing with the kids. He made them take 3 to 8 hours of school and built a library and let them choose what religion they were going to practice, but they had to practice something. So he's known for that kind of stuff. He's been with me for 30 years and he's a pessimistic kind of guy. So I told him we were doing Pacquiao against 3K Battery and we put it in the city called Taguig, not Manila. He said, "What the hell is that?" I said, "It's a poor part of Manila, but it's where the people will probably not be able to afford it."

We put big TV screens out and something like 50-feet posters of him across all of the buildings. We spent about $300,000 just in publicity. We had 60,000 people and it was one of the greatest fights because the kid was tough. We finally knocked him out in the 4th round. They hollered, "Muhammad! Muhammad! Thank you Muhammad!" It was phenomenal; the second "Thrilla in Manila" in the Philippines. We were on our way. So I shut down all of the critics and all of my enemies who thought I couldn't pull off the fight and Pacquiao got paid $350,000, more than they were getting paid in America. We didn't put it on anywhere free except the TV networks in the Philippines back then. So now, HBO says, "I will give you 2 million dollars." So I tell Arum, "Okay, I'm going to pay my kid a million and I will give you a million."

So we're sitting in Arum's house watching the football games, because he likes to bet on games. He's showing me his beautiful home and his wife, who is a beautiful person. So I get a call from Fred Levin. Fred Levin is my lawyer and Roy Jones Jr.'s lawyer. He said, "Murad, guess who's in my office?" I said, "Who?" He said, "[Juan Manuel] Marquez." I said, "Well what is he doing there?" He said, "He says he wants to come with you." I said, "He wants to come with me?" He said, "Yes! Arum beat him and he wants to come with you." So I said, "I appreciate that, but is he under contract?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Well, I'm sitting right here in Bob Arum's living room. Hold on. Bob, where is Marquez?" Bob goes, "He's in Mexico with my son." I said, "Fred, is Bob's son there?" He said, "Nah." I said, "He can't be in Mexico because he's in my lawyer's office." Bob said, "Where?" I said, "Florida." He goes, "Can't be?" I said, "Fred ain't going to lie Bob." He said, "He doesn't even speak English." I said, "Fred, he doesn't speak English." Fred said, "I know. He has a guy here with a mustache that don't speak English, he got himself here that don't speak English and another guy that don't speak English, but he has an interpreter. It's 4 of them." I said, "Bob, maybe you should talk to Fred." He says, "Okay."

I give Bob the phone and Fred tells him, "Hey man, he wants to leave you." We put him on speaker phone and I said, "Marquez, first of all, I want to say that I really appreciate that you would come to me, but it's two things that I don't do in my life. One is in my social life, I don't commit adultery. I will not touch another man's wife. Secondly, I don't torturously interfere with anyone's contract. I don't go to court for stealing fighters." I told him, "You are sitting next to one of the most outstanding litigators in this country in Fred Levin. He will tell you that Bob Arum will hold your career up with depositions and all types of questions and by the time you go to court, it will be 9 months." I asked him how long did he have with Arum? He said, "3 fights." I said, "Fight the 3 fights, get paid and then if you want to come to me, I will welcome you, but don't hold up your career." He said, "Murad, I will fight the fight [rematch with Pacquiao] if he gives me 1.5 million." I told him, "It's not 1.5 million there; it's 1 million there. Now whether Arum gives you the whole 1 million, that's up to him." He said, "I don't want to be with Arum. I think he's a theif and I will not fight for him, but I do understand what you are saying and thanks for the information."

So I said, "Bob, we got egg on our face man. We got a date with HBO. What are we going to do?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "I know." He said, "What?" I said, "Let's go to Eric Morales and save face." He said, "You're right. How much are you going to pay Pacquiao?" I said, "2 million!" Bob goes, "He ain't worth no damn 2 million!" I said, "Bob we will make it." He said, "How are we going to make it when Eric Morales does maybe 200,000 homes, 3 if he fights a Barrera." I said, "Bob, the difference between your fighter and my fighter is that your fighter is only watched by Latinos. My fighter is watched by the African American and Asian fans, so I'm bigger than your guy, whether you like it or not. So you bring the Latinos and I will bring the rest of the world." He said, "We gotta give Eric Morales 2.5 [million]." I said, "Eric Morales never made over 1.5 with you Bob, in 11 pay-per-view fights. He said, "Alright, done!" And the fight was on!

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK FOR PART 14 AS MUHAMMAD REVEALS MUCH MORE ABOUT HIS YEARS AS HIS PROMOTER

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