Manny Pacquiao Strikes Deal with Nike and HP

Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez has promised to go toe-to-toe with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in the third fight of their eagerly awaited trilogy at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Nov 12 and with out doubt it will be a war.

Manny Pacquiao will began training in August but mean while Pacquiao poses beside a poster of the late labor leader and Congressman Crispin Beltran, following a packed news conference where Pacquiao expressed his support for a Lower House bill providing for 125-Peso ($3) Across-The-Board wage increase for the private sector yesterday at suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. The militant labor organization KMU (for May 1st Movement) hailed Pacquiao’s support as a “big boost to the workers’ fight and campaign for a substantial wage increase.”

Aside from his congressman duties, Manny Pacquiao has signed an endorsement contract with Nike. Pacquiao is set to leave for Portland, Oregon in two weeks to meet with Nike chief Phil Knight and other top CEO’s to discuss a planned marketing promotion of “Pacman” product lines. Pacquiao will be the next NBA legend, Michael Jordan to seal a mega Nike Deal. Last month Manny Pacquiao signed a $1 million dollar a year contract with Hewlett-Packard. Pacquiao’s first global endorsement deal. HP’s new 9.7-inch TouchPad computer, which will hit stores later this year, is expected to go head-to-head with Apple’s widely successful iPad 2 .

The campaign will include television, radio, print, outdoor and billboard components, all of which will feature Manny Pacquiao and will be marketed globally.

It’s amazing what Manny Pacquiao has done. As his trainer Freddy Roach told the U.K. Telegraph, “Manny ran away from home after his father ate his dog, and he lived on the street, where he bought doughnuts at a doughnut store and then sold each one for a nickel more to survive. He slept in a cardboard box. He fought his way through all this, turned pro at 14, and look at the man he is today.”