Floyd Mayweather’s emergency motion to delay testifying as a defendant in Manny Pacquiao’s defamation case was denied yesterday, with Federal magistrate judge Robert Johnston ordering him to appear in court to give his deposition beginning today.
The reason Mayweather’s lawyers gave for wanting to put off the case, which he has successfully done with several others of late, was due to needing to train for his upcoming bout with newly crowned WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz.
Mayweather’s lawyers statement, as first reported by The Ring:
“Mr. Mayweather Jr. needs to concentrate on training for the fight and not be distracted by preparing for, and testifying at, his deposition in this case”
As much as Mayweather does need concentration to train properly however, it isn’t as if this case snuck up on him out of nowhere.
Pacquiao first filed the suit due to Mayweather and others accusing him of using performance enhancing drugs all the way back in December of 2009, and as such Floyd has had ample time either to settle, make amends or to fit his schedule around when he knew he would be required to appear in court.
Previously also named as defendants were Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and owner Oscar De La Hoya, although full and frank public apologies by both last month settled their end of the suit.
No such apology was forthcoming from Mayweather however, nor his uncle Roger, father Floyd Sr. or representatives of Mayweather promotions who are all still being sued by Pacquiao.
So as much as he might not be keen on the idea of apologizing to Pacquiao, especially if he really does believe that he is taking performance enhancing drugs, Mayweather did have other options than having to go to court.
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Also Mayweather accepted the fight with Ortiz with full knowledge of his upcoming court appearances, and aside from assuming that his motion would be granted, has no excuse for the clashes in his schedule.
Additionally, as much as he might perhaps play up the appearances to try to sell the fight, the reality is that they will have very little effect on his preparation overall, and certainly won’t have impaired him to the extent that he isn’t ready for Ortiz in September. Advertisement
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When news first broke of the defamation case being filed, Mayweather and his fellow defendants didn’t appear to be overly worried, and many fans expected that nothing much would come of the case.
Some even speculated that the suit was nothing more than a bargaining chip Pacquiao would use as a possible concession if he and Mayweather were to negotiate to fight once more.
More recently, Mayweather in particular has had other legal issues to concentrate on, stemming in the most part from a late night altercation with a former girlfriend and several run-ins with security guards in the Las Vegas gated community where he lives.
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It now appears though that after two failed attempts to meet him in the ring, Pacquiao will finally get to face Mayweather, albeit in a courtroom.
A speedy conclusion to the case could be beneficial for a possible showdown however.
Aside from it being easier to negotiate without the obvious barrier of an ongoing lawsuit between them, the stances of both parties on Olympic style random blood testing may well be examined and brought to light during the suit.
Pacquiao after initially asking for a cut off date has stated that he will accept fully random testing. Mayweather however still harps on about ‘taking the test’ as if Pacquiao is asking for the cut off.
This being the case and if both publicly accept that they are now open to testing without any cut off date, there would seem to be no barrier to the pair finally agreeing to fight.
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