The latest from the negotiation table is that both parties have been locked away for nine hours today with no results to speak of so far.
To speak of being because there is a gag order in place on all parties involved until after the talks are over.
This in itself isn’t a bad thing though, and the fact that both parties stayed all day and are both willing to try again tomorrow shows that they both want this fight to be made. Or perhaps more likely, they want to get their hands on some of the hundreds of millions this fight will make.
Nine hours with no results or press statements might seem like no news at all, but there are always clues behind the promoter’s actions in cases like this that can often tell you more than what they might have said in a press conference.
The fact that retired judge and now mediator Daniel Weinstein has ordered a gag on any information being leaked to the press is a sure sign that at least certain items on the agenda have been agreed upon. If there was absolutely no progress made them obviously there would be no need for a gag order anyway because there would be nothing to tell.
Secondly the fact that both parties are still in talks and that neither side has pulled out or made any derogatory remarks toward the other is a good sign also. Both Golden Boy and Top Rank are seemingly committed to staying locked away in a meeting room somewhere until this thing gets figured out. If anything drastic had gone wrong or no progress had been made, then one or both sides would probably have given up by now and the war of words between the two rival promoters would have continued.
My guess would be that the other issues were solved today, and that the drug testing disagreement will be fully aired and worked on tomorrow. The issues other than the testing were Golden Boy’s representation of Manny Pacquiao given that they also promote his opponent and yet at the same time apparently accuse him of taking drugs. The other issue is the lawsuit itself, which will probably be dropped in exchange for a public apology from all the accused.
On Golden Boy’s ownership of a piece of Pacquiao’s earnings, either Top Rank will have bought them out of the deal, or some other agreement will have been reached. Perhaps a signed deal whereby this fight is the last that Golden Boy will be able to claim any money from Manny with.
