Last summer, the public perception was that Manny Pacquiao wanted to face a reluctant Floyd Mayweather in a boxing ring, but Mayweather was avoiding the showdown. Pacquaio’s defamation lawsuit against Mayweather mirrored that perception, as Pacquiao’s attorneys tried to chase Mayweather down in order to take his deposition but Mayweather avoided the deposition while hosting large parties and burining $100 bills in night clubs. But since Pacquiao barely defeated Juan Manuel Marquez in November, both the lawsuit and the potential boxing match have entered a new phase, one in which Mayweather appears to be the hunter and Pacquiao the hunted. The last chapter of the lawsuit ended with the court ordering Mayweather to appear at a deposition, and it may yet require Mayweather to fork over low six figures to Pacquiao in attorneys’ fees as punishment for being so elusive in the deposition process. Like the public perception that Pacquiao is now the one avoiding the boxing match, the latest filings in the lawsuit make it appear that Pacquiao is now the one resisting the exchange of information.
Today, Mayweather asked the court to force Pacquiao to provide his medical records and the name and contact information for every doctor who has treated Pacquiao so that Mayweather can see if there is any evidence that Pacquaio ever took steroids or other illegal performance enhancers.
The medical evidence that Mayweather seeks is the central issue in the lawsuit, because if Pacquiao ever took illegal performance enhancers, Mayweather would win the lawsuit because one cannot be guilty of defamation if they are speaking the truth.
The lawsuit arose after negotiations for a match-up between Pacquiao and Mayweather disintegrated over the issue of drug testing and Mayweather went public with statements that Pacquiao took illegal “power pills,” a clear reference to steroids and/or human growth hormones.
