BalotSports.info

A make-or-break meeting between the representatives of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is scheduled for Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) to try to save the planned March 13 showdown of the two superstar fighters at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein will serve as mediator in the meeting set at his Santa Monica office of the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services in Los Angeles, according to a report by Lem Satterfield of boxing.fanhouse.com.

Team Pacquiao will be represented by Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank Promotions, and Top Rank president Todd duBoef, while Team Mayweather will be represented by Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions and possibly Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions.

A representative of the law firm O’Melveny and Myers, Daniel Petrocelli, will also attend the meeting.

Petrocelli filed a lawsuit in behalf of Pacquiao on Wednesday, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for defamation of character against Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, as well as Floyd Mayweather Jr., his father Floyd Sr. and uncle Roger Mayweather.

The suit seeks damages in excess of $75,000 for Pacquiao, who contends that the camp of Mayweather damaged his reputation by insinuating he uses steroids or other illegal drugs to boost his performance.

The Mayweathers began airing their drug-related insinuations and accusations after Pacquiao’s successive demolition of Oscar Diaz at 135 pounds, De La Hoya at 147, Ricky Hatton at 140 and Miguel Cotto at 145.

In 2006, Weinstein successfully mediated a dispute between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions over the rights to promote Pacquiao, who had signed with both groups.

Arum reportedly said that for the negotiations to resume, the Mayweathers must drop their demand for random blood-test demand and issue a public apology to Pacquiao, whose 12th-round stoppage of Cotto gave him a record seventh title in as many weight classes.

Since yielding a unanimous decision to Erik Morales in March 2005, Pacquiao is unbeaten in his last 11 fights. He stopped Morales in the 10th and third rounds in subsequent bouts.

If negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao fall apart, Arum is considering World Boxing Association junior middleweight (154 lb) champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, eight KOs) to be the Filipino icon’s next opponent in a fight initially slated for March 20 at The Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Source: Roy Luarca  | Philippine Daily Inquirer