Pacquiao still hopeful on fight vs Mayweather

World boxing icon Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao is not giving up on the possibility of facing American champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a title fight.
Even his youngest boy said he wants his father to retire only after defeating Mayweather.
Many believe that the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is a dream fight and, if it happens, would be the biggest and richest fight in boxing history with a prize money of $50 million each.
Pacquiao has actually scheduled the fight with Mayweather for at least four times now, but the fight never materialized due to various reasons, one of them is said to be the unreasonable demand of the American boxer of getting the bigger portion of the profits from the fight.
Pacquiao, however, is now agreeable to getting lower than their 50-50 sharing if only the dream fight would happen soon.
Mayweather is fighting in May in Las Vegas Puerto Rican slugger Miguel Cotto whom Pacquiao defeated in an earlier fight.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, is to face American fighter Tim Bradley also in Las Vegas on June 9.
Pacquiao said he is  reasonable enough and would agree to lower slice of a 50-50 share in the fight provided the shares from the pay-per-view income would be divided equally between them.
 Pacquiao said in a statement on television that he is open to getting a smaller share of the purse as long as he and Mayweather equally share the payper-view revenue, knowing all too well that their fight would break all records.
While Pacquiao has announced that he would be hanging his gloves soon, he said he won’t regret not having fought Mayweather because he had done his part in making the “dream fight” become a reality, and that his legacy as an alltime great is safe and secured.
“I am satisfied with my accomplishments in boxing,” said Pacquiao.
This developed as  Pacquiao asked President Aquino to fire a Bureau of Internal Revenue official for allegedly harassing him by filing contempt charges before the Prosecutor’s Office of Koronadal City for his failure to present tax records on time.
“Nanawagan ako kay President Noy, sana ‘yung ibang opisyal, especially ‘yung regional director ay tanggalin na. Hindi niya alam ginagawa niya. Binabaluktot niya ang tamang daan,” Pacquiao said in a press conference.
Pacquiao assailed the BIR for filing a case against him that affected his international product endorsements worth millions of dollars.
Pacquiao said his clean name was maligned by BIR officials who gave the impression he is a tax evader even though he received recognition from the same agency that he is a role model and cited as one of the prompt top individual taxpayers in the country.
He said he lost at least four major sponsors in the United States that already signified their intention to make him the endorser of their products. The US companies decided to pull out as result of the BIR’s move picturing him as tax evader.
BIR regional director Rozil Lozares earlier issued a letter of authority requiring Pacquiao to submit documents on his earnings and corresponding tax payments.
A letter of authority empowers a revenue officer to examine a taxpayer’s books of accounts and other accounting records to determine if he is paying the correct taxes.
Pacquiao complained that the case lodged against him by the BIR was done “in bad faith and to single me out.”
“I cannot think of any reason why they want to tax me. I cannot be taxed for these fights because I have already been taxed for these in the United States. That is double taxation,” Pacquiao said, referring to his earnings in 2010 after beating Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey.
Pacquiao, who plans to run for governor of Sarangani in 2013,  said the case filed by BIR “was designed to tarnish my reputation.”
“Itinaya ko po ang aking buhay sa loob ng ring,” he said. “But in just one instance, the BIR has tarnished my name by filing (the case) against me. Walang pagpapahalaga sa karapatang-pantao. Higit bang mas mahalaga sa kanila ang buwis kaysa sa karapatang pantao? Hindi po yata ito matuwid na daan.”
The BIR is reportedly investigating the boxing champion’s 33 tax records, including his annual income tax return in 2010, book of accounts, list of assets, and earnings from bouts the against Margarito and Clottey.
The agency also asked the congressman to disclose his earnings from product endorsements but the requirements were not filed before the February 7 deadline, which prompted the BIR to file the complaint.
“I urge the BIR to stop this cavalier attitude. It is not right. Kung nagawa ninyo na dungisan ang aking pangalan, tiyak na kaya niyo rin gawin sa karaniwang mamamayan. I intend to finish this until the final round. Lalaban po ako para sa pagpapahalaga sa karapatang-pantao,” Pacquiao said.
He insisted that there is no case against him because the BIR did not serve the subpoena to him “but to a person whose identity is not known to me.”
Dean Abraham Espejo, one of Pacquiao’s lawyers, identified a certain Jocelyn Nebria as the one who received the subpoena which was sent to an “unknown” place in General Santos City.
“Why send it to an unknown place and person? What is the purpose? Hindi ito due process. Railroaded ito,” he said, noting that Pacquiao’s known addresses were in Sarangani and the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.
Former Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero, another lawyer for Pacquiao, said the BIR wants Pacquiao to incriminate himself.
“It is the duty of the BIR to gather evidence against a taxpayer. It is not the duty of the taxpayer to submit something that might be used against him,” he said.
Pacquiao said the controversy might drive away his international endorsements because US companies do not want someone being hounded by such issues to endorse their products.