Massachusetts Boxing Commissioner Thinks Mayweather is Ducking Pacquiao!

New England Boxing Examiner | Peter Czymbor

In wake of the Manny Pacquiao - Floyd Mayweather negotiations apparently having fallen through, Massachusetts state boxing commissioner Dan Fitzgerald has weighed in on the issues halting the fight from being made. Namely, the issue of drug testing.


"I do believe that certain boxers, however, Muhammad Ali being one of the masters at it, will say or do things to gain a psychological advantage before a match, and Mayweather is known for that. Frankly, I do not think that Mayweather wants to fight Pacquiao, or anyone else for that matter, where Mayweather believes he may lose. I have told you before that Mayweather will never fight Paul Williams or Shane Mosley no matter what promoters promise to pay him. Because Mayweather does not need the money, I would not be surprised if he was thinking along the following lines: Mayweather knows he would come in over weight (something for which he has a reputation), that he would have to pay a substantial fine (something that we know and that Mayweather certainly knows that the Nevada Commission is quite capable of imposing), a fine anywhere from $5-10 million dollars, and that he would end up netting the same amount as he would any other fighter, but one that he knows he could beat. So, why fight Pacquiao? Rather than go through all of that, what does Mayweather do? He postures a little, raises an obscure issue that no one can prove or disprove, (it is very difficult to prove a negative), gets the fight cancelled, argues "I told you so," and comes away claiming he won without ever having to fight the guy. I am not saying that is what he is doing or going to do, but that scenario is a thousand times more likely than someone like Pacquiao cheating. No wonder Pacquiao sued him."


Fitzgerald is no stranger to weighing in on controversial topics related to Pacquiao. In 2008, he publicly opposed the Pacquaio - Oscar De La Hoya welterweight fight being approved because he felt it would be a mismatch due to the size difference between the two fighters.
Of course the perceived smaller man, Pacquiao, pounded De La Hoya en route to a 8th round TKO in that fight. Pacquiao weighed in at 148 pounds unofficially on the night of the fight to De La Hoya's 147. This would later lead Fitzgerald to joke, "well I was right that the bigger man would win."
In regards to the issue of drug testing that is holding up that Pacquiao - Mayweather fight from happening, Fitzgerald said the following in an email.


"I would find it extremely difficult to believe that Freddie Roach, a man well known for his integrity in this sport, would allow himself to be associated with any boxer who cheats."
Nevertheless, Fitzgerald feels there is always the possibility that a fighter could be trying to get a competitive edge.


"When judges instruct juries on the law during a trial, for example, they always make a point to explain to the jury that anything is possible, and there exists a chance for anything, however remote those possibilities or chances may be."


When asked if he feels Olympic style drug testing, which is what the Mayweather camp is asking for in this fight, be implemented on a more regular basis in boxing, Fitzgerald had the following to say.


"I know that some substances can only be detected in blood where others can be detected in both urine and blood. One of the ways to keep people from abusing or cheating any system is to keep changing the system. If a Commission or an Olympic Committee or any other regulatory body always conducts tests at a specific time period before or after any contest whether it be a fight, an Olympic event, or an audit, it gives potential cheaters a specific time frame to work around. This is why broad discretionary language in one's regulations regarding testing really helps."


Whether you agree with Fitzgerald or not, one thing we can all agree on is we hope this fight eventually happens.

Source: Examiner.com

Floyd Mayweather's adviser: Bob Arum's misleading of public over negotiations 'childish'

By David Mayo | The Grand Rapids Press
January 07, 2010, 10:35PM

Leonard Ellerbe said Bob Arum intentionally has tried to mislead the public throughout negotiations, including omitting information that the Mayweather camp proposed a 14-day window before the fight when there would be no blood testing.

“Arum is trying to trick the public into thinking there was no compromise at all,” Ellerbe said. “He never mentioned that a 14-day compromise was offered -- and rejected -- prior to mediation.

“I think it’s more than a fair compromise, particularly since, realistically, it’s not an issue that should be compromised on at all.”

Ellerbe also disputed a media report in which Arum was quoted as saying two key members of Mayweather’s negotiating team -- business adviser Al Haymon and Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions -- tried to talk the Grand Rapids native into accepting the Pacquiao side’s compromise proposal of a 24-day window with no blood testing before the fight.

“It’s a childish, amateurish attempt by Bob Arum to divide and conquer,” Ellerbe said. “It’s absolutely not true. It never happened. It’s a lie.”

Ellerbe said he still is hopeful a deal could be struck to preserve the fight proposal, although there is no dialogue between the camps and that wish appears less likely by the hour.

“I said last week that Manny Pacquiao has surrounded himself with smart people but I have to retract that statement,” he said. “They’re not very smart people at all, because Manny Pacquiao is going to wake up, another deal is going to be presented to him, and he’s going to say, ‘What? I’m not going to make eight figures?’

Floyd Mayweather’s adviser railed against Manny Pacquiao’s promoter for what he called a misinformation campaign after the proposed March 13 Mayweather-Pacquiao fight fell apart.

“If there’s an award for bonehead decision making of the year, we all know who that award gets presented to.”

Ellerbe stressed that Mayweather wants the fight and that the 14-day window his team proposed was middle ground between the random testing right up until fight night that it wanted, and the 30-day window Pacquiao initially agreed to accept.

“The bottom line is that what we’ve been proposing all along is random, Olympic-style drug testing,” Ellerbe said. “Why would the guy refuse random blood and urine testing? Why?”

Source: mlive.com

Arum: "Mayweather is Scared To Death of Pacquiao"

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

The planned March 13 super fight between boxing hero and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and former No.1 Floyd Mayweather Jr is off after Mayweather chickened out despite Pacquiao accepting a compromise proposal to bring the blood test closer to the fight date from his original 30 day cutoff period to 24.

The Mayweather camp had demanded that Pacquiao undergo random blood tests to be conducted by the US Anti Doping Agency following unsubstantiated allegations that he was on performance enhancing drugs. The Pacquiao camp originally indicated it was ready to submit to blood tests one day before the kickoff press conference, 30 days before the fight and immediately after the fight in his dressing room stating that if Pacquiao was on any illegal substance it would surely show up in the post-fight test.

After the Mayweather handlers claimed Pacquiao had blood extracted from him 14 days before the Ricky Hatton fight in May 2009 as shown on the HBO 24/7 pre-fight series to put holes in his position of a 30-day deadline, Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com produced documents to show the blood test shown on HBO was actually done 24 days before the fight which Pacquiao agreed to as a compromise to help get the fight done.

Despite the mediation efforts of retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein who spent nine hours with both parties on Tuesday, nothing was apparently achieved except that both sides were placed under a gag order which prevented them from talking.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has steadfastly refused to divulge details of what transpired behind the closed doors of Judge Weinstein’s Santa Monica office except to confirm on Thursday (Manila Time) that the fight was off even as he blamed Mayweather for the collapse of a fight which millions of boxing fans around the world wanted.

Arum maintained that Mayweather’s refusal “established what I have always believed and that is that Mayweather never wanted to fight Manny because he was scared to death” which is what trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning expert Alex Ariza had said from the very beginning when they claimed Pacquiao would give Mayweather “a bad beating.”

Arum revealed that Pacquiao is likely to fight for his eighth world title in an eighth weight division against 154 pound champion Yuri Foreman . The renowned promoter who handles Foreman said “ Yuri is ready and I’ll check to get confirmation with Manny,” indicating that should it push through the fight would be held on March 13 or 20 also in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz said that the immensely popular Filipino southpaw who has won every conceivable award in boxing and was recently featured on the cover of Time Magazine with a five-page spread said he was “disappointed at not being able to give the fans what they wanted and claimed Mayweather used this (blood testing) as an excuse to get out of the fight and we’ll just have to move on.”

Koncz himself posed the question “how does Mayweather go around claiming he is the best pound-for-pound fighter and the best fighter if he is not willing to engage the people’s choice as the best fighter?” noting that Pacquiaohas also been endorsed by Ring Magazine and numerous other boxing publications and internet sites as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today.. Koncz added “this is all a sham.”

Pacquiao’s concern over blood being extracted too close to the fight stems from his experience before the first fight with Erik “El Terrible” Morales in March 19, 2005 when he was forced to have a blood test a couple of days before the fight after his medical records were allegedly lost in transmission.

However, a video tape from our personal archives of a heated discussion on the issue showed that the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission at that time, Marc Ratner, pointed out that the blood test submitted had been taken in January which was too long before the fight and the NSAC commission set a cut-off of 30 days and emphasized that if Pacquiao refused to take the blood test the fight would have to be called off. Pacquiao reluctantly took the test and later said he had a headache and felt dizzy and attributed that to the extraction of blood too close to the fight which he lost on points.

It appears that Pacquiao’s original 30-day cut-off jibed with the requirements of the NSAC which has jurisdiction over the fights in Las Vegas and whose authority Pacquiao and his handlers want respected, which Mayweather, by demanding that the USADA undertake the tests refuses to do. Koncz pointed out that even when the chairman of the NSAC asked Pacquiao to take a urine test in the Philippines over which the Commission has no jurisdiction he took the test which was done by a doctor of the Philippine Olympic Committee, accredited by the World Anti Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee.

Insidesports.ph, Standard Today, Viva Sports and BoxingScene.com understand that the Mayweather handlers led by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Mayweather’s top adviser Al Hayman had tried to convince the fighter to agree to the 24-day blood test proposal which Pacquiao had agreed to and which medical experts had said was more than sufficient to detect any traces of performance enhancing drugs, but they were turned down by Mayweather resulting in the fight being called off.

Source: boxingscene.com

Pacquiao vs. Mayweather Fight Is Off: What Happened?

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com

The much-anticipated showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, tentatively scheduled for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, has collapsed, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com on Wednesday night.

"The fight's off," Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, said from Las Vegas.

The fight died after a last-ditch attempt at mediation between Top Rank and Golden Boy, which represents Mayweather, failed in an effort to determine the drug-testing protocol.

Pacquiao had agreed to move off his hard-line stance of refusing a blood test inside 30 days before the fight, but Mayweather wouldn't budge off his desire for random testing all the way until the fight, Arum said. Nor would Mayweather agree to a public apology for remarks he made accusing Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs, Arum said.

"I am very disappointed that we could not make this fight for the fans and I am angered because of the false accusations from Golden Boy and the Mayweather camp that I used some type of drugs, and that is why I have instructed our American lawyers to proceed with the lawsuit to clear my name," Pacquiao said in a statement.

“

Arum Manny accepted what was on the table and Mayweather rejected it. Haymon and Schaefer tried to convince Floyd all [Tuesday night] and [Wednesday] and he wouldn't agree to it. He didn't want the fight. He never wanted the fight. I always knew the fight wouldn't happen.
” -- Top Rank chief and
Manny Pacquiao promotor Bob Arum

Arum said Pacquiao would move on and likely fight junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman on March 13 or March 20.

The fight was to have been on HBO PPV, a sure blockbuster many believed would break the all-time pay-per-view record of 2.44 million buys set by Mayweather's 2007 fight with Oscar De La Hoya, who owns Golden Boy Promotions. But Arum said he had informed HBO PPV boss Mark Taffet that the fight was off.

Had the fight done the monster numbers organizers expected, it would have likely generated in the neighborhood of $200 million with the fighters receiving roughly $40 million apiece.

Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy and the point person for the company on the negotiations, did not return multiple messages.

The sides had negotiated every point of the deal except for the drug testing procedures. The fighters agreed to unlimited random urine testing, but Mayweather insisted on random blood testing as well, even though the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which would regulate the fight, requires only urine testing.

Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) didn't want any blood testing but had agreed to take three blood tests: one during the week of the kickoff news conference, which would have taken place next week; one random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight; and a final test in his dressing room after the fight. Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) would have been subject to the same testing procedures.

When they could not come to an agreement on the drug testing, they enlisted the aid of a mediator, retired judge Daniel Weinstein, who successfully mediated a series of disputes between Top Rank and Golden Boy, which represents Mayweather, in June of 2007. At the center of the problem was ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank. Under the settlement, Top Rank got Pacquiao's contract with Golden Boy retaining a small percentage.

With lawyers at their side, Top Rank's Arum, company president Todd duBoef, Golden Boy's Schaefer and De La Hoya, along with Mayweather adviser Al Haymon, spent nine hours in mediation on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif.

The sides struck a deal during the marathon session Tuesday, but it was contingent on getting the fighters to sign off, Arum said.

On Wednesday, they were back in their offices -- Golden Boy in Los Angeles and Top Rank in Las Vegas -- and worked the phones with their clients while still under Weinstein's gag order not to talk to the media.

Arum said Pacquiao agreed to ease his demands on the drug testing window but Mayweather wouldn't.

Arum said Pacquiao agreed to shorten the window for a blood test to 24 days before the fight. In order to receive a Nevada boxing license, Pacquiao took the standard annual blood test 24 days before his May 2009 fight with Ricky Hatton.

"Manny accepted what was on the table and Mayweather rejected it," Arum said. "Haymon and Schaefer tried to convince Floyd all [Tuesday night] and [Wednesday] and he wouldn't agree to it. He didn't want the fight. He never wanted the fight. I always knew the fight wouldn't happen."

The drug testing became a major issue when Floyd Mayweather Sr., the father of the fighter, made several public remarks accusing Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs without a shred of proof. Mayweather Jr. later made similar remarks about Pacquiao using PEDs, even though Pacquiao denies it and has never failed a drug test.

"When the fight was offered, Manny accepted it with no hesitation," Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz told ESPN.com from the Philippines, where he was with Pacquiao. "We're not surprised. We saw this coming once they started this drug bull----. It was a way for them to get out of the fight. I don't think Mayweather expected Manny to accept the challenge so quickly."

The accusations led Pacquiao to file a defamation lawsuit last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, Golden Boy president De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.

"The guys who should be most disappointed in the fight being off are Schaefer and De La Hoya because they went along with this guy [Mayweather] and ended up with gatz and a big lawsuit," Arum said.

Said Koncz: "We agreed to move the drug testing to 24 days under the supervision of the Nevada commission and Mayweather still wouldn't budge. So now what we've done is give up maybe $40 million to take a stand for Manny's principles. We will proceed with the lawsuit in an effort to clear his name and tarnished image. Even if they make a public apology it's not enough. Now they'll have to prove to a judge that Manny is on drugs, which they won't be able to do because he's not. Manny is pissed off because he feels Floyd is a chicken and because he tarnished his reputation. This is about principle. We have nothing to hide."

Golden Boy also risks losing its share in Pacquiao's contract, Arum said.

"There's an arbitration which calls for them to lose any percentage of Manny's promotional contract, something we asked for and had postponed, but now it will go forward," Arum said. "We did that two weeks ago before Manny filed his lawsuit. It's binding arbitration. Our request was for Golden Boy to forfeit its interest in Pacquiao's contract based on the fact that they had demeaned Pacquiao with their remarks [alleging he used PEDs] and that it violated the [2007] agreement between Pacquiao, Top Rank and Golden Boy."

Arum now plans on moving forward with Pacquiao facing Foreman, who won his 154-pound title on the Nov. 14 undercard of Pacquiao's 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto to win a welterweight belt. Pacquiao would move up in weight to try to win a title in his eighth division. Pacquiao already holds the record, having won titles in seven divisions.

Mayweather could also still fight on another date in March, potentially against former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.

"We're going to talk to the MGM because they're out of a fight," Arum said.

Arum added that the fight could also wind up at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas or perhaps in Dallas, where Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made a strong pitch to bring Pacquiao-Mayweather to his new stadium.

Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com.

Source: ESPN.com

Top Rank vs Golden Boy - bloody war to be renewed?

LA Boxing Examiner | Ricardo Lois

Tuesday Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions are going to sit down with an arbitrator, break bread, and hopefully finalize a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Want to buy a nice piece of real estate in Death Valley?

Though millions of boxing fans across the globe hope that a bout will be sign, sealed, and delivered for March 13, I know a few people who will cross their fingers and toes hoping the bout completely falls apart.

Paulie Malignaggi and Yuri Foreman have both been mentioned as possible opponents to replace Floyd and make the payday of their careers.

Do you think Paulie and Yuri are wishing they were flies on the wall of the office where this power meeting will take place?

Sure Malignaggi might think Pacquiao is a cheat, but that will not keep him from fighting the Filipino and while making a million dollars or two. Imagine all of the artificial braids and waxing creams Paulie can purchase with that sort of loot?
[Click here to listen to Paulie Malignaggi make very serious accusations regarding Pacquiao]

Foreman might have no pop in his fists, but he is a like-able lad and holds a title which could prove to be Pacquiao's eighth in eight divisions. Nobody said Pacquiao was looking for quality in the quantity of his crowns. Foreman vs. Pacquiao? The average Joe might think Big George is coming back out of retirement.
[Watch a video interview with possible Pacquiao foe, Yuri Foreman]

But more than the negative cosmic energy members of Team Foreman and Team Malignaggi will be sending out to California tomorrow, something else could derail the negotiations tomorrow; the huge egos and bad blood that will be in the room.

Bob Arum (Top Rank) and Richard Schaefer (Golden Boy), with their respective legal counsels, will try to iron out a feud that has roots in Pacquiao jumping ship from Golden Boy to Top Rank when he was a free agent.

Remember the brief case full of cash given to Manny Pacquiao by De La Hoya? Remember Pacquiao signing with Top Rank, though he had signed with Golden Boy? Remember the legal battle that followed, only to be squashed with both promotions sharing Pacquiao's promotional rights?

With the ill feelings of that conflict still fresh in the minds of these boxing promotional behemoths, they must iron out the issues of the drug testing for Pacquiao - Mayweather, and discuss the defamation law suit filed by Pacquiao against Schaefer, Oscar De La Hoya, Roger Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather, and his father Senior.

Oh and also on the table, discussions of Golden Boy's financial stake in Pacquiao's career.

A lot is on the agenda, enough to sink THE fight, the ONLY fight boxing fans want to see during 2010 involving Pacquiao and Mayweather.

Don't look for the war to end tomorrow, but for the first blood to spill in a long, drug out rekindled feud between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.

Source: Examiner.com

Pacquiao-Mayweather mediator assesses the situation

The mediator who on Tuesday will attempt to resolve the conflicts in negotiations to stage a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight March 13 in Las Vegas released a prepared statement Monday saying he's "satisfied all parties are negotiating in good faith."

Retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein is scheduled to preside over the mediation Tuesday in Santa Monica. Weinstein previously bridged the gap in another major divide, bringing promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy together in 2007, a union that helped create several major fights.

Pacquiao, who fights for Top Rank, and Mayweather Jr., who is being handled in these negotiations by Golden Boy, are split most divisively on how to settle a drug-testing protocol. Mayweather's camp originally pushed for both fighters to be subject to random blood tests through fight week. Pacquiao responded harshly to that request, ultimately suing Mayweather and his representatives for defamation for comments that the Filipino star said implied he has used performance-enhancing drugs.

Pacquiao has accepted random urine testing through fight night, and immediately after the bout, as done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

"I ... have been asked by representatives of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather to mediate certain disputes that have arisen in connection with the negotiation of a bout between the two fighters," Weinstein said in his prepared statement, a copy of which was read to The Times.

Both sides are operating under a gag order until the mediation is concluded, Weinstein announced.

"Neither side is insisting on pre-conditions, and both sides will present their positions in an effort to resolve the dispute," Weinstein said in his statement.

The urgency of a resolution this week is considered critical, since the promoters previously said they were planning to stage news conferences in New York and Los Angeles starting next week. Both fighters also typically train for eight weeks before their bouts.

Pacquiao-Mayweather would be a fight for a world welterweight belt, but is also an anticipated showdown between the men considered to be the world's top two boxers. Mayweather is 40-0, and Pacquiao is poised to win a second consecutive fighter of the year award, having disposed of Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.

The bout could become the richest in the history of the sport.

Source: latimes.com

Pacquiao, Mayweather agree to mediator

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com

With time running out to save a potential March 13 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the camps are heading to mediation on Tuesday in an effort to work out their differences.

Mediator Daniel Weinstein will preside over the meeting in Santa Monica, Calif. Weinstein, a retired federal judge, also mediated the acrimonious dispute that kept Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, and Golden Boy, which represents Mayweather, from doing fights together for almost two years.

"We're going into mediation," Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, told ESPN.com. "This guy was successful resolving our nutty problem before and hopefully he can be successful this time. He's a guy who is a big fight fan and loves the sport, and I found him last time to be a delight to deal with. Everybody did."

In a statement Monday to ESPN.com, Weinstein said the sides accepted the mediation without any conditions.

"After discussions with representatives of all parties I am satisfied that the parties are approaching the mediation in good faith," he said. "Neither side is insisting on pre-conditions to its participation in the mediation, and both sides will present their positions in an effort to resolve the dispute."

At the time of the previous mediation, the companies had several ongoing lawsuits, including the one at the center of the bad blood: ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank.

When the disputes were settled in June 2007, Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer both credited Weinstein's steady hand for getting them to reach an accord. Under the global settlement, Top Rank retained Pacquiao's promotional rights with Golden Boy receiving a percentage of Top Rank's profit from his future bouts.

The hope is that Weinstein can once again help the sides see their way through what has become an increasingly nasty battle in an effort to finalize the bout between welterweight titlist Pacquiao and Mayweather, the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in a fight many believe will break the pay-per-view record of 2.44 million buys. Mayweather's 2007 fight with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya set the record.

Weinstein said both sides have agreed not to comment until after they meet with him.

AOL Fanhouse first reported the mediation plans Sunday night.

Top Rank and Golden Boy have agreed on all points on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight except for one: The protocol for drug testing.

Even though the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which would oversee the bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, doesn't require blood testing, Mayweather has insisted on random blood testing. Both sides have already agreed to unlimited random urine testing.

Pacquiao has refused training camp-long random blood testing, agreeing only to three tests, one during the week of the kickoff news conference, which would take place in the next week or so if they finalize the fight, one random test to be conducted no later than 30 days before the fight and a final test in his dressing room after the fight.

Mayweather would be subject to the same testing procedures.

One issue sure to be discussed in front of the mediator is the impact of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.

In the suit, Pacquiao alleges they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test.

If mediation fails, and the fight does not get made, Arum said he will match Pacquiao with junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record eighth weight division.

Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.

Dan Rafael in the boxing writer for ESPN.com.

Source: ESPN.com

Mayweather-Pacquiao deal will be sealed now

NY Boxing Examiner | Michael Marley

No more histrionics. No mas with the promotional blather.

All the public wants to hear from the opposing sides, after they sit down at the Santa Monica conference table of familiar mediator and former Federal Judge Daniel Weinstein, is that the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight has been made.

I told you on Saturday that "Frankenfight" had been jolted back to life like the movie monster.

(Click here to get the inside info on potential Pacquio opponent junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman.)


Me, I’m not going out on a limb, really. I am just like the experienced weatherman who can see from the satellite charts that a cold front is blowing from Canada and that temperatures will be well below freezing.
So I predict that snow is coming. And the end of the snow job between Pacman promoter Bob Arum and Golden Boy’s Richie Rich Schaefer is near if not already here.

Let me put it another way. They say money talks, right, so it follows logically that $40 million for Manny and the same for the tax problem plagued Mayweather screams.

Arum wasn’t just whistling Dixie when he told me on his Saturday afternoon departure from his Cabo San Lucas “working vacation” spot that the opposing parties were ready for a sitdown in front of the highly persuasive Weinstein.

Don’t overlook the trust he has going for him on both sides of the table from his Solomonic settling of the dueling Pacquiao contracts issue a few years ago.

They can make this fight, they will now make this fight.


I think I will be attending a Money May-Pacman New York press conference next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Businessmen make deals and they don’t leave that kind of money on the table.

We need only look to the recent Fox settlement with Time Warner Cable to see how the big boys of business (do any of them live in a “Big Boy Mansion” like L’il Floyd?) make deals when it looks like the plug is about to get pulled.

Fox demanded one dollar per TV subscriber, a buck for every home getting its various video offerings. Time Warner Cable offered 70 cents less. Despite the huge gap in the demand and the offer, they made a deal at the 23rd hour, averting Fox disconnecting from Time Warner systems.

Is the Mayweather-Pacquiao fiasco any different? The ultimate settlement, in which Arum tries to completely get de la Hoya’s corportate hands out of Megamanny’s pockets, is Item B.

That solution can be delayed or deferred.

Item A, with the public appetite at an all time high, is making Floyd-Manny. It’s no biggie if the bout gets pushed back from March to May, maybe they will need the additional lead time, maybe not.

The only issue preventing the fight from being reduced to contracts is the random blood testing.

All they have to do is reach agreement as to a prefight cutoff date for such testing. Both boxers are already subject to random urine testing.

I mean, how difficult, how mind-straining can it be? Arum wants the last prefight random blood test to occur no later than 30 days before the fight, Mayweather’s team can counter with a 14 day, a 10 day or a one week cutoff date.

The ground is fertile for agreement because the earth is so rich.

Oh, yeah, lest we forget…there is one other nagging issue.

The lawsuit filed by Pacquiao in Las Vegas based on the unfounded allegations of drug cheating is not that problematic.

To get his mitts on $40, I am sure even a cursory public apology by the Golden Boys dumps that complaint into File 13 meaning the nearest wastebasket.

The preliminaries are finished, folks.

Maybe Weinstein can lock these egomaniacs into the conference room.

He can let them out when they yell, “We made the match!”

That’s a shout that will be heard round the world.

The love of money by all involved will crush everything else.

It always does.

Source: Examiner.com

HOW TO CHANGE THE TONE OF PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER

By G. Leon

If the representation of Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao are successful in their attempt to mediate their way to a resolution that leads to both fighters signing a contract, there's only one way to ensure that the event maximizes its potential in a positive manner that benefits the entire sport of boxing. From this point on, BOTH FIGHTERS AND THEIR CAMPS MUST decline to comment on any questions pertaining to steroids, performance enhancing drugs or any tests they might be conducting for that matter.

Believe me, if everyone went mum on the issue and declined to comment, while interjecting a positive spin on things, it would become a non-factor before you know it.

However, advertising the issue on HBO's 24/7 would be extremely counter-productive to what the foundation of what this event is supposed to stand for and that's the two best boxers in the world fighting for pound for pound supremacy.

HBO needs to be conscious of its role to control what they choose to air during the weeks leading into the fight because of the ripple effect it can have on their ratings for future cards.

If the first interview or comments made by either of the parties following tomorrow's mediation has a nucleus of negativity, then everyone should stop wasting each other's and our time watching this deal, which shouldn't have been difficult to close once Mayweather agreed to parity, turn into a sad sad commentary on the state of the sport we love.

This is THE last ditch effort to save the March 13 mega-fight. If things are not worked out tomorrow, Mayweather and Pacquiao will head in different directions making September 2010 the earliest possibility for what we demand to be supplied.

Boxing fans keep your fingers crossed and hopefully everything takes a turn for the better more quickly than it took a turn for the worse.

Again, at the risk of sounding redundant, if they get it together, declining to comment on the negative topics Team Mayweather went public with, would be in everyone's best interest.

Source: boxingtalk.com

Mayweather-Pacquiao Should be Finalized this Week...

by John Chavez

Jan 04, 2010 -
Play time is over for all parties involved.

Yes, it was slightly amusing to observe the verbal bashing taking place from both sides as to why the other camp did or didn't want the fight but after the outcry of public disapproval, it looks as though the smokescreen has lifted.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is a fight that needs to take place soon and it needs to be signed now.

(Click here for a look at Yuri Foreman as a potential Pacquiao opponent.)

As the economy continues to struggle, flounder, and fizzle in it's continuous downward spiral, as each month passes, less and less fanatics out there struggling to make rent will possess the disposable income in order to purchase the mega-fight. Apparently this week Team Mayweather and Team Pacquiao will be meeting face to face via a mediator Judge Daniel Weinstein.

Boxing loves drama but it can tend to go overboard with certain antics and turn the casual viewer off which is exactly what took place the last several weeks.

With Mayweather hinting at Pacquiao's usage of performance enhancing drugs and Pacquiao in-turn filing a defamation lawsuit against all parties involved with the "Pretty Boy", it left the public scratching their heads wondering where boxing took a wrong turn.

If I've learned anything having hovered around the boxing world for several years now, it's that plenty of complete and utter morons are employed within the sweet science by making very simple tasks ridiculously painful and difficult.

It's amusing but frustrating to say the least as it's a true rarity when anything positive gets done within the sport.

This week the fight will get signed, next week will be the press conferences in New York and Los Angeles, and March 13, 2010 will be the day boxing lounges on that warm piece of the sidewalk it rarely gets to sit on...

Greed will drive this fight to get made and there is nobody greedier than the two parties meeting this week.

Source: theboxingtruth.com

Why Pacquiao-Mayweather is still odds-on to take place this spring

Posted by Kevin Mitchell

Any bookmaker framing odds on the chances of Manny Pacquiao fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, this spring or summer might have it at close to even money this morning.

The reasons are these: Floyd, one of life's great gamblers, has already pushed Manny too far in their drawn-out blood feud, and he needs the money more than the little guy. I think the Mayweathers are cracking.

Six weeks ago, when negotiations for the 13 March fight started, Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's closest business adviser, said: "If the fight happens, Floyd deserves the lion's share of the purse."

This is a standard negotiating posture, one that led Bob Arum, representing Pacquiao, to point out to him that only the egos of the negotiators could scupper the promotion.

To everyone's amazement, within days Mayweather agreed to split the $50m purse down the middle and cut a deal on the pay-per-view take. That was when I figured he was more desperate for the fight than Pacquiao was – and when they decided on the next stage of their negotiating strategy.

Just before Christmas they tried to rattle Pacquiao by demanding he take random blood tests for performance-enhancing drugs, knowing he didn't like giving blood, especially in the last month of training. He did it before, against Erik Morales (promoted at the time by Oscar De La Hoya), and lost. They were also putting in place what they thought was the perfect excuse: if Pacquiao refused the blood tests and won the fight, Mayweather could claim again he was on the juice.

But Pacquiao fashioned an even better counter. When he announced last week he was suing Mayweather, his father and uncle, as well as their business associates Richard Schaefer and De La Hoya, for defamation, claiming they portrayed him as a drug cheat, he challenged them to back down.

They have not yet done that, but they are nervous.

Ellerbe, who doesn't give many interviews, told Fanhouse.com yesterday, "From day one, I've never accused Manny Pacquaio of anything. All that I've said is that we want to ensure that there is a level playing field."

This, clearly, is unsustainable nonsense. If he is not accusing Pacquiao of anything, why ask him to take tests they have never demanded of any of Mayweather's previous 40 opponents? There is no logic in the Mayweathers' position – unless they believe Pacquiao is taking performance-enhancing drugs.

If they have proof of that beyond gym scuttlebutt, you would imagine they'd produce it. Or would they? Because, to do so would not only wreck Pacquiao's career but a pay-day north of $40m for Mayweather, as well as big bunce for his partners.

Pacquiao, if he is innocent, will know they have no evidence and so will have to compromise. If he is guilty, he will be reasonably certain they won't wreck the promotion by providing the proof. He also knows Mayweather, who called him out in the first place, really wants the fight. He has some serious tax bills to pay, and loves a bet. The signs are encouraging.

Ellerbe said yesterday, "We're still ready, willing and able to make a deal. We feel that this is the biggest fight in the history of boxing. We want to give this fight to the fans."

Of course they do.

And, not only do they want to make a pay-per-view killing, the biggest in the history of the sport by a factor of possibly two, they want to avoid punitive damages of "tens of millions" above the headline $75,000 Pacquiao is suing them for. Those big zeroes are the estimate of Pacquiao's celebrity attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, and any gambler would do well not to ignore him. He has form.

If Pacquiao extracts an apology from Mayweather and agrees to a suitable form of drug testing, all will be well. Otherwise, he will take the legal action the whole way. I have no idea if he will win in court – but neither does Mayweather, and I reckon his legal advisers will be telling him to think hard about bailing out of this one.

Given this is boxing, there has to be another twist – and the most mysterious of all is that Golden Boy owns a slice of Pacquiao, who signed with it in 2006. This inspired Top Rank to sue GBP, which counter-sued. They now each have a bit of Manny, a curiosity that has yet to be resolved.

It is not just a boxing match between Pacquiao and Mayweather, the two best practitioners in the world; it is a willy-waving contest between a whole cast of players: Arum and De La Hoya, for a start. The Golden Boy boxed for Arum – until they fell out, naturally. Nor does Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, get on with Mayweather Sr. In fact Mayweather Jr is not crazy about De La Hoya, who lost to him in 2007 but out-earned him by $58m to $25m. Oscar then sacked his trainer – Freddie Roach. The Borgias have got nothing on this lot.

Ellerbe told Fanhouse.com, "We checked our egos at the door" when they started talks. I don't think so. The fight game is all about egos. It's why they are in this mess in the first place.

There is an outside chance, of course, that this absurd row is a publicity scam of towering genius, one that ensures maximum interest from outside the hardcore boxing community, punters who will push the pay-per-view numbers past three million and make everyone concerned considerably richer.

It might not have begun like that. But, as in life, what started as a cock-up born of animus has become a war, and it plainly suits both sides to milk it until they settle. It is getting a lot of ink.

So if the fighters, alongside Arum, Ellerbe, Schaefer and De La Hoya, gather this week – let's say Wednesday – to announce the war is over, it would not surprise me in the least. I'd put the odds at about 4‑6.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Mayweather/Pacquiao: Takes one for the money, but two for the show

Boxing Examiner | Vivek Wallace

The on-again/off-again negotiations between American Floyd Mayweather jr. and fightin' Filipino native Manny Pacquiao has apparently come down to a last ditch effort being staged Tuesday afternoon in California between the respective fight camps and now retired judge Daniel Weinstein serving as chief mediator.

These negotiations have gone from one end of the spectrum to the other, and of all the concessions made, there has been no progress what-so-ever in finalizing a deal that once seemed to come together far easier than anyone could imagine.

The breaking point has come in the fact that there seems to be no swaying within Team Pacquiao from their position relative to randomized blood testing.

The position of Team Pacquiao is set on one test before the announcement of the fight, another 30 days prior to the fight, and a final one taking place after the fight is complete.

In the eyes of Team Mayweather, this agreement is unacceptable because - as several medical sources have indicated - any knowledge of the particular testing time can allow someone who is using performing enhancing drugs can beat the test.

For a while, there lied the bigger problem, with Team Pacquiao feeling they were "singled out without proof", while Team Mayweather held the position that there was simply a need to get answers to a few speculative questions.

Recently, Roy Jones jr. spoke on the issue and some felt his criticism of the steroids testing being mandated by Team Mayweather meant he sided with Team Pacquiao.

For the record, it should be noted that while, like Jones jr., we can all agree that the request may have been wrong in principle, not once did Jones jr. say that he would have walked away from a shot at ultimate supremacy and a $40M payday. So the comments he made carry a bit less weight than many have seemed to believe.

At the end of the day, this ruckus will all come down to what happens Tuesday afternoon.

So far, Team Mayweather has conceded to a $10M stipulation for each pound that Mayweather weighs-in over 147lbs. Team Mayweather has agreed to stipulations for the glove size, as the fighters will both where 8oz gloves, despite the welterweight norm is 10oz gloves. Team Mayweather has also agreed to allow NSAC to conduct the testing.

With all of those concessions, it can only be desired that Team Pacquiao concede to one thing....and that thing is blood testing that comes unannounced.

We know what Team Mayweather is about, (the money), but whether Team Pacquiao is or not, clearly we need his help if there will actually be a show.

Stay tuned.

(Team Pacquiao has addressed the media saying that his fear of blood test comes as a result of his experience when facing Erik Morales. I will address this point in my next video segment --- tentatively set for Wednesday at 5pm est)

Source: Examiner.com