Trainer Freddie Roach has vowed to back Manny Pacquiao if the boxer decides to take advantage of rule changes which could see professional fighters allowed to take part in this summer’s Olympic Games.
Pacquiao, 37, said Wednesday he is yet to decide on whether he will pursue a spot in the Philippines Olympic team, appearing to pull back from an earlier statement in which he said he would be honoured to fight in Rio.
“I’m not saying a yes or a no,” Pacquiao said. “I’m not closing the door. I have to think about it and I’m still thinking about it. It’s good to let professionals in the Olympics.”
The eight-time world champion said earlier this month he had been “personally invited” to Rio by Wu Ching-Kuo, president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) -- the governing body for amateur boxing.
Proposed changes to AIBA statutes, set to be put to a vote at a special congress of AIBA confederations at the end of May, could leave Olympic eligibility in the hands of the national boxing federations.
Pacquiao, who is preparing for what is being billed as his farewell fight against Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas on April 9, is planning to transition into Philippines politics when he hangs up his gloves.
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However the prospect of becoming his nation’s first ever Olympic gold medallist is likely to be a powerful lure.
The Philippines have won a total of nine bronze and silver medals at the Olympics since the 1928 games in Amsterdam, five of them in boxing.
Roach said on Wednesday he had discussed the prospect of fighting in Rio with Pacquiao — and revealed he had even offered to work for free.
“If they let him in the Olympics I told him I’d train him,” Roach said. “He said ‘You know there’s no pay for that right?’ I said ‘No problem!’.
“If Manny wants to go to the Olympics and get his country a gold medal I’d be behind that. Pro athletes compete in other sports at the Olympics, so why not?
“I don’t agree with it but that’s the way life is.”
Roach meanwhile dismissed concerns that allowing professionals to fight against untested amateurs could be risky.
“What’s dangerous about it? A three-round fight or a 12-round fight? It’s still boxing. People talk about the difference between pros and amateurs. But good pros come from the amateurs,” Roach said.
However Roach’s view was not shared by Pacquiao’s veteran promoter Bob Arum, who branded the AIBA’s proposals as “insane”.
“I think the idea of professional boxers in the Olympics the way it’s been proposed is insane,” Arum, 84, told AFP.
“You can’t have top professional fighters competing in the Olympics against raw amateurs. To mix them up is wrong.
“People say ‘Well in other sports we allow professionals to compete in the Olympics.’ But boxing is not other sports. It’s a hurt sport. It’s dangerous.
“To put an unheralded kid from Nigeria in the ring with a Manny Pacquiao? You should be sentenced to jail for doing something like that.
“I don’t think the AIBA has thought this through. And to do it at the last minute like this is terrible. The Olympics are a few months away. I don’t know what they’re thinking.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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