After nine hours of negotiations yesterday, representatives of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. came up with nothing except that they’ve been given a gag order by the mediator, retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein.
It means that the planned March 13 super fight between the two superstars remained hanging in the balance. The negotiations will continue today, based on some reports, at the Santa Monica office of Weinstein, a master mediator.
What’s important, however, is that the talks are on in trying to save the fight.
While both parties have agreed on the other fight details, from the venue to the purse, they can’t seem to land on the same page with regards to the details of the drug-testing for what should be the richest fight in boxing history.
Mayweather wants an Olympic style of drug-testing, with random blood tests, while Pacquiao wants it done the way its always been done in Nevada, with urine tests, even if he had agreed to three scheduled blood tests.
“There’s a gag order,” said Pacquiao’s adviser, Mike Koncz, who’s been in constant touch with Top Rank’s Bob Arum who, along with Todd duBeof, represented the Filipino pound-for-pound champion in the crucial meeting.
Pitching in for Mayweather were Oscar dela Hoya and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, and the boxer’s manager, Al Haymon. Even if Mayweather is not under Golden Boy, GBP helps him negotiate for his fights.
“No comment, no comment. By the judge’s order, no comment,” Dela Hoya was quoted by fanhouse.com as saying as he emerged from the meeting.
Arum and his stepson, the Top Rank president, were first to come out of the meeting, and while the legendary promoter seemed to be in “high spirits” he, too, can’t give any of his juicy quotes to the media.
A lof of things may come out of the fresh rounds of talks. They can agree to hold the fight as scheduled on March 13 at the MGM, push it to a later date or not hold it at all, if they don’t agree on the drug-testing procedure.
As a fallback, Pacquiao can take on light-middleweight champion Yuri Foreman, also under Top Rank, on March 20, and gun for an eighth word title in eight different weight classes, then run in the May 10 polls in the Philippines.
A major press conference was originally scheduled Jan. 8 after both parties have agreed to the fight, but everything turned sour when the issue of drug-testing came up, and neither boxer wanted to budge.
The impasse had spilled over to the courts as Pacquiao recently filed a defamation case against the Mayweathers, Schaefer and Dela Hoya, for saying that Pacquiao is into some kind of performance-enhancing drugs.
The case may be dropped as part of a new deal but Arum said the other party must apologize. The promoter for more than four decades now also said the fight won’t happen if Mayweather stands firm regarding the blood tests.
