Pacquiao may train in Canada

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum is luring Manny Pacquiao to the Bahamas for the first half of his training camp for the November 14 duel with Miguel Cotto but the Filipino fighter might end up going to Canada, Mexico — or even the Philippines.

Owing to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulation called the Substantial Presence Test, defined as a calculation that determines the resident or nonresident status of a foreign national for tax purposes in the US, Arum said Pacquiao has to spend the first four weeks of training outside US territory and the Bahamas, which is 45 minutes by air from Florida, turned out to be perfect choice.

“Manny’s going to love it there,” Arum said on Wednesday, stressing that a high-ranking executive of the high-end Atlantis Resort in the capital city of Nassau, is more than willing to host Pacquiao and his training team.

“The weather is similar to that of the Philippines and everything there will be first-class,” said Arum, who turned a bit annoyed when told about the possibility of Pacquiao opting to stay in the Philippines.

Arum said he can also train in Mexico but the language barrier might turn Pacquiao off.

“Manny has to be near the US because we will maximize the pay-per-view,” said Arum, noting that “it will all be up to Manny” to decide where to train.

Even chief trainer Freddie Roach is not leaning towards a training camp in the country “because of too many distractions.”

Pacquiao lawyer Franklin Gacal said Vancouver in Canada appears to be a good choice, not only because it is also near the US but because of the large number of Filipinos residing there as well.

Roach wants an eight-week training camp for the Cotto fight and regardless of where Pacquiao spends the first four weeks, they would resume training at the Wild Card in Hollywood a month before the bout.

Source: mb.com.ph