The apology came late Tuesday afternoon after Manny Pacquiao settled his defamation lawsuit against Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy. More so, it was Schaefer making the statement, that is, unless De La Hoya spends more time sending tweets and apologies instead of attending rehab sessions somewhere in Southern California.
?Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya, on behalf of themselves and Golden Boy Promotions, wish to make it crystal clear that we never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance enhancing drugs, and further state that we do not have any evidence whatsoever of such use.?
That was the statement of apology. So the drama continues, and was it necessary, because if the accusations and claims that Pacquiao was a user of performance enhancement drugs are not on record, the fight could have happened. Of course, the Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight would be in the books.
But the fight never happened, and who knows if it ever will because Richard Schaefer CEO of Golden Boy, representing Mayweather as the mediator, opened his mouth. Whatever the purpose for the accusations, there were more causes to question Pacquiao, the eight-division champion who finally gave in and agreed. Get it done because this is a fight that boxing needs to get done.
Realizing Pacquiao agreed to principles of undergoing the Olympic style testing system of urine samples and blood testing, Mayweather was silent. All the news reportedly the past year is about Mayweather legal issues and rumors of returning to the ring, but Pacquiao was not in the plan.
Oh, and then this statement from Schaefer. ?Pacquiao is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and we apologize if anyone construed our prior remarks as in any way claiming or even suggesting that Manny uses drugs or has used performance enhancing drugs.?
Though the defamation lawsuit that Pacquiao filed against Maywetaher, Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather, and Mayweather Promotions was not dropped and that is more serious and obvious. Because it is another legal issue that Mayweather has to contend with and Pacquiao, at this juncture, has looked past Mayweather.
Unless Schaefer has another trick up his sleeve, the mouth piece of boxing has to overcome another hurdle and that may be difficult. Bob Arum of Top Rank, Pacquiao?s promoter in all probability will never do significant business with Schaefer. And knowing how Arum feels about Schaefer, ?Believe what you want to hear from Schaefer,? he said a few weeks ago about a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. There tells the story.
What significance the apology has, is the bitterness, according to a source, still hanging over the head of Arum.
Everything from the drug test procedure that Schaefer insisted upon, to the attempts by Schaefer at demoralizing Arum which included deals with HBO, the Nonito Donaire contract and booking shows at the MGM Grand Arena, has Arum moving well past Schaefer and Golden Boy.
Golden Boy is a thriving company and Top Rank needs to not vouch for credibility to say what they have accomplished. In essence, there is more of a conception now that Pacquiao-Mayweather is a go because Richard Schaefer made some type of peace with Pacquiao.
The steroid issue will never end in sports. Boxing in particular will always be questioned because certain sanctioning organizations are without proper testing procedures for body enhancement drugs and other. You can always question Pacquiao and how he established himself as the superstar the sport of boxing has.
Is that a natural Pacquiao body, or was, Mayweather, Schaefer and De La Hoya on to something? We will never know without any conclusive evidence. What is known is this. Pacquiao will call on Mayweather. And Schaefer will be trying to get a piece of the action.
That is all theory of course. What could come to fruition is De La Hoya reaching out to Arum for a reason. He is overwhelmed with the sympathy and well wishes. Arum does have a heart, even to a guy who made millions off his money and became a competitor.
Signing the Latino fighter, settling and promoting in predominant Latino areas of the United States, television rights, and booking arena dates that were Top Rank territory all became a trademark of Golden Boy, because of what Arum built.
Suddenly Schaefer has become the unofficial spokesperson, with De La Hoya in seclusion dealing with the addictions he has to overcome. Yes, if De La Hoya is a smart businessman, he is thinking.
Get Schaefer out of the picture. And if Pacquiao drops his case against the Mayweather family, assuming De La Hoya wants to be a part of it, and if Mayweather needs some backing, that first apology to Pacquiao, can lead to what we want to see.
Pacquiao in the ring with Mayweather as the drama continues. Oscar De La Hoya comes home to Bob Arum. On the realm of reality without the influence of Richard Schaefer, and remember pure speculation from this perspective.
And credit a tweet and an apology.
