Petrocelli may have twice lost battles with the California State Athletic Commission when he represented Antonio Margarito, but the cards were more than stacked against him. The UCLA graduate is a seriously good lawyer, and a conversation he had with BoxingScene.com on Tuesday indicated just how serious his client is about making sure no one ever again accuses him of using performance enhancing drugs.

"This suit was filed because these defendants made false accusations in suggesting Manny Pacquiao took, and is taking, performance enhancing drugs," Petrocelli said. "And nothing could be further from the truth. They have no evidence to back that up. They tried to get out of the case by saying their statements were merely opinion. The law didn't support their position and the court denied their request to dismiss the case."

Petrocelli said that it should be clear to anyone who has read all of the statements made by the defendants that their words were more than opinion. Speaking at first coolly, Petrocelli suddenly became animated.

"Pacquiao has earned, as I'm sure you know - or as I hope you know - all his success from extraordinary skills and hard work and determination," Petrocelli said. "He had no choice but to file that suit to make sure that these irresponsible accusations were never repeated again. The case will now go forward, we'll take depositions and hopefully we'll get a trial date."

Petrocelli was asked what he is hopeful of attaining from all this.

"Just setting the record straight once and for all," he said. "He has a legacy to protect. He is one of the greatest fighters of all time. He has done it the right way, the hard way. It has tarnished his image and reputation. You know the old expression, that reputations are earned in inches and lost in miles.

"He has no choice but to pursue this to the end. He can't let these comments fester out there."

Petrocelli said there is no money figure attached to the suit just yet.

"When we get to the trial there will be, of course, because he will be entitled to damages to compensate him for the harm to his reputation as well as punitive damages to punish the defendants," Petrocelli said.

Finally, we queried Petrocelli as to whether he believes Pacquiao's reputation is permanently scarred.

"It's a good question," he said. "That was my point about the old saying. Someone damages your reputation, sometimes it's impossible to get it back and this is the form of justice the law provides."

Sounds serious. But Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy and one of those named in the lawsuit, said he is not concerned.

"No, I wasn't really," said Schaefer, when asked if he was surprised the suit was not dismissed Monday. "I know that eventually the truth will come out, so I'm not worried about it because it is a bunch of BS."

Donaire Update

Golden Boy signing bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire away from hated rival Bob Arum and Top Rank Inc. is something that figures to land in court because Arum said Donaire still has a contract with him. But Donaire is with Golden Boy for now.

Schaefer was asked if a title unification fight with Anselmo Moreno of Panama remains a possibility. That fight was mentioned by Arum before Donaire bolted. 

"Absolutely, that could still happen," Schaefer said.

But Schaefer spoke as if he knows putting together a fight for Donaire might not be so easy, what with the legal issues hovering.

"The attorneys are dealing right now with the situation," Schaefer said. "I really need to see first how that is going to pan out. Then we are looking for a site in California for May 28 and we are looking at a couple of different opponents. I don't really want to mention any  names right now because people are just going to go and f**k it up. There are negotiations going on for a May 28 fight."

Schaefer on Trash-Talking Arum

Arum was asked by this reporter last week if he was shocked when he heard Golden Boy had signed Donaire. Yes, and no, was Arum's response. He was surprised because he said Golden Boy had to know Donaire still had a binding contract with Top Rank. But, Arum said, "Nothing they do really surprises me."

Arum also said Donaire's wife, Rachel, had Manny Pacquiao envy and that she is mostly responsible for her husband leaving Top Rank. Arum this week was quoted in a Michael Marley column as saying Donaire - a Filipino born in the Philippines who moved to Northern California as a kid - never had a connection with Filipino fans and that Rachel Donaire dressed like a tart.

Schaefer was flabbergasted at Arum's comments.

"It shows you the kind of low-life Arum is," Schaefer said. "I think it was totally uncalled for, making those vicious attacks. It shows you he knows he doesn't have a case because why the hell would he go and attack Nonito and his wife like that? It is stupid and uncalled for."

Schaefer said he believes Arum, chairman of Top Rank, has lost it.

"A normal, rational person - a businessman - would not make these kinds of negative, damaging comments," Schaefer said. "I'm surprised people still deal with the guy."

Arum is 79, but Schaefer said he doesn't think his behavior has anything to do with his age.

"I know a lot of 90-year-old guys who are very nice and have great personalities and spend a lot of time with their grandkids," Schaefer said. "He's just a miserable guy. ... I cannot imagine that Todd is very happy to have to deal with somebody like that."

Schaefer meant Todd duBoef, Arum's stepson and president of Top Rank. 

Alvarez vs. Rhodes?

Several publications have reported that the WBC had officially named Ryan Rhodes of England as the mandatory challenger for super welterweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez of Mexico.

Assuming that is the case, Schaefer was asked if he was concerned how a fight between Alvarez and an unknown like Rhodes would be received by the boxing public. Rhodes, 34, is 45-4 with 31 knockouts. But his ring record is not a list of who's-who. Rather, it's one of, who's that?

Just two years ago, in April 2009, Rhodes fought a guy - Janos Petrovics - who entered 16-23. In his most recent fight last December, Rhodes fought someone named Rocky Junior, who was 11-0.

"I haven't seen him fight, either, to tell you the truth," Schaefer said of Rhodes. "Just because we haven't seen him doesn't mean he's not good."

Schaefer used Marcos Maidana as an example. He was not well-known when he came to Staples Center in Los Angeles and stopped Victor Ortiz in the sixth round of a hard-hitting thriller in June 2009.

"You obviously know what happened," Schaefer said. "Today, Marcos Maidana is one of the most feared fighters and one of the most exciting fighters."

Schaefer also pointed to Dmitry Pirog, another unknown who stopped heralded Danny Jacobs in the fifth round of a middleweight title fight last July in Las Vegas.

"Just because we haven't seen somebody, doesn't mean he can't fight," Schaefer reiterated. "I don't think because nobody has heard of Rhodes that makes him less of an attraction."

That said, Schaefer said Alvarez's next fight - regardless of the opponent - will take place June 18 in Guadalajara.

A Surprise From Arreola?

Marylyn Aceves was on the telephone line Tuesday. Aceves, a contract PR person who does a lot of business with Goossen Tutor Promoters, said Goossen informed her that heavyweight Chris Arreola was looking real good during training for his upcoming fight against Nagy Aguilera on May 14 at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. (They will tangle on the undercard of the Andre Ward-Arthur Abraham super middleweight title fight, which is part of Showtime's Super Six tournament).

When he steps into the ring, Arreola often resembles former NFL coach Bill Parcells, who always looked like he should be wearing a sports bra. We're talking flabby.

When Goossen took the phone, he wouldn't go into details regarding Aceves' comment. He said reporters would have to see for themselves next week when Goossen plays host to a news conference promoting that card.

"It's beyond me talking about it," Goossen said. "It's all in Chris's hands to show people, and Tuesday you will get a good opportunity to make your own determination."

Goossen said the biggest question is, has Arreola finally decided to make training a priority. Even in his last fight against Joey Abell in January, Arreola weighed 249 3/4 pounds. That's still at least 10 pounds more than he should weigh.

Remember, it was less than three years ago - in June 2008 - that Arreola weighed 239. He's still only 30, so it's not like he can't get into optimum shape if he really wants to.

"When you see him Tuesday, if he is showing signs of that, that is going to give you the opinion now that he is training like a world-class heavyweight," Goossen said. "If he doesn't give you the appearance you would expect of a world-class trained heavyweight, you are going to say he's the same old Chris Arreola."