Tweet
By NICK GIONGCO
January 6, 2010
The Mayweather camp is largely blamed for the controversy surrounding the projected fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an online poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times. Mediation is currently underway to save the fight.
There remains a silver lining despite the continued standoff in the mediation talks aimed at saving the March 13 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
“At least what we heard was not an announcement saying the fight is off,” said Pacquiao lawyer Franklin Gacal. “Perhaps, they’re still trying to tie up some loose ends.”
Representatives of both fighters – with Bob Arum and stepson Todd DuBoef of Top Rank as Pacquiao’s emissaries and Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) and Mayweather adviser Al Haymon taking the lead for Mayweather – met for nine hours Tuesday before retired federal judge and top mediator Daniel Weinstein in Santa Monica, California.
“We’ve been told not to comment,” Arum told The Bulletin as soon as he stepped out of Weinstein’s office. “There’s a gag order.”
Weisntein was tapped by both parties in an effort to find a solution to the feud involving Pacquiao’s and Mayweather’s camps over the random blood testing that Mayweather demands for the fight to take place as scheduled at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Apart from the testing issue, there is also the subject of Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit that the Filipino filed during the holidays against the Mayweathers and GBP and Arum’s decision to rid GBP of its minor promotional rights over his fighter.
Noted publicist Fred Sternburg said the fact that there’s a gag order could be a good sign.
“The longer it is, the better it is. (That) means they’re still working at it,” said Sternburg.
There are reports saying that talks will resume on Wednesday.
Noted boxing scribe Dan Rafael, formerly of USA Today and now with ESPN, said “there’s a lot of stake here aside from the money” the two fighters are getting.
“This fight will crown who is the best fighter of the decade (and) who will be the best fighter in the world today,” said Rafael, a perennial ringsider not only in Pacquiao’s fights but in other marquee matchups as well.
Pacquiao and Mayweather have agreed to a 50-50 split of all the revenues to be generated apart from being guaranteed $25 million each.
They stand to receive as much as $40 million apiece once the pay-per-view and gate receipts, closed-circuit viewing, international broadcast rights and fight merchandise are all computed.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times is running an on-line poll, asking its readers who among four primary figures in the on-going rift – Pacquiao, Mayweather, Arum and Mayweather’s promoters and managers - should be blamed.
The top vote-getter as of noontime Wednesday was Mayweather himself with 5,841 votes (72 percent), while his handlers got 1,537 (19 percent).
Pacquiao just got 550 votes (7 percent) and Arum received a measly 213 (3 percent).
January 6, 2010
The Mayweather camp is largely blamed for the controversy surrounding the projected fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an online poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times. Mediation is currently underway to save the fight.
There remains a silver lining despite the continued standoff in the mediation talks aimed at saving the March 13 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
“At least what we heard was not an announcement saying the fight is off,” said Pacquiao lawyer Franklin Gacal. “Perhaps, they’re still trying to tie up some loose ends.”
Representatives of both fighters – with Bob Arum and stepson Todd DuBoef of Top Rank as Pacquiao’s emissaries and Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) and Mayweather adviser Al Haymon taking the lead for Mayweather – met for nine hours Tuesday before retired federal judge and top mediator Daniel Weinstein in Santa Monica, California.
“We’ve been told not to comment,” Arum told The Bulletin as soon as he stepped out of Weinstein’s office. “There’s a gag order.”
Weisntein was tapped by both parties in an effort to find a solution to the feud involving Pacquiao’s and Mayweather’s camps over the random blood testing that Mayweather demands for the fight to take place as scheduled at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Apart from the testing issue, there is also the subject of Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit that the Filipino filed during the holidays against the Mayweathers and GBP and Arum’s decision to rid GBP of its minor promotional rights over his fighter.
Noted publicist Fred Sternburg said the fact that there’s a gag order could be a good sign.
“The longer it is, the better it is. (That) means they’re still working at it,” said Sternburg.
There are reports saying that talks will resume on Wednesday.
Noted boxing scribe Dan Rafael, formerly of USA Today and now with ESPN, said “there’s a lot of stake here aside from the money” the two fighters are getting.
“This fight will crown who is the best fighter of the decade (and) who will be the best fighter in the world today,” said Rafael, a perennial ringsider not only in Pacquiao’s fights but in other marquee matchups as well.
Pacquiao and Mayweather have agreed to a 50-50 split of all the revenues to be generated apart from being guaranteed $25 million each.
They stand to receive as much as $40 million apiece once the pay-per-view and gate receipts, closed-circuit viewing, international broadcast rights and fight merchandise are all computed.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times is running an on-line poll, asking its readers who among four primary figures in the on-going rift – Pacquiao, Mayweather, Arum and Mayweather’s promoters and managers - should be blamed.
The top vote-getter as of noontime Wednesday was Mayweather himself with 5,841 votes (72 percent), while his handlers got 1,537 (19 percent).
Pacquiao just got 550 votes (7 percent) and Arum received a measly 213 (3 percent).
Comment