A quick scroll down the Golden Boy Promotion?s Fighters section of their website displays current WBO Welterweight Champion Manny Pacquiao as a Lightweight fighting under their promotional banner. Conspicuously missing from the website is Golden Boy?s top dog Floyd Mayweather.
Have we all unknowingly slipped through a wormhole into a different time period?
This all may seem strange considering recent events in the boxing world in which Manny Pacquiao, who fights under Top Rank Promotions, and Floyd Mayweather, who fights under Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions couldn?t come to agreement for a megafight. Mayweather neglected to sign a contract for the fight, the reasons for which remain murky because little has come from the mouth of ?Money?.
It may seem a bit less strange when you consider that President of Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, has not had the greatest rapport with either Pacquiao or Mayweather.
De La Hoya and Golden Boy had signed Pacquiao to a seven fight deal in September of 2006. At that time Pacquiao, a Super Featherweight, was preparing to fight Erik Morales in the rubber match of their trilogy. Before ever stepping into the ring for Golden Boy, Pacquiao eventually reneged on his deal and signed with Top Rank. A legal battle between the two promotional companies resulted in a settlement in which Golden Boy would receive a percentage of Pacquiao?s contract.
Pacquiao?s move up to Lightweight did not occur until 2008 for his fight against then WBC title-holder David Diaz.
Still bitter about the deal-gone-sour, De La Hoya, in 2008 before his fight with Pacquiao, in an interview with ESPN?s Dan Rafael, said, ??When he looked into my eyes and I looked into his eyes, and we shook hands and we had a deal, and he talks about honor? I never thought I would fight him. That?s also one of the reasons why this fight is so personal to me, because of that night when we signed the deal and he turned his back on me.?
So the specter of Lightweight Manny Pacquiao haunting the Golden Boy Website is due to either embitterment, bad information or poor site maintenance, most likely a combination of the three.
Mayweather is not featured anywhere near the Golden Boy site because as ?Money? has reiterated time and time again, he is his own boss. Mayweather has a business relationship with Golden Boy, but not an official promotional contract.
Golden Boy Promotions could not be contacted to comment at this time due to the impending Juan Manuel Marquez-Nate Diaz clash.
