Retired Boxer Oscar de la Hoya Wants Pacquiao Lawsuit Dropped
Golden Boy Promotions executives led by Oscar de la Hoya and Richard Schaefer have filed a motion to dismiss the case filed by Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao against them for defamation.
The defamation case was filed by Pacquiao's lawyer Dan Petrocelli after Floyd Mayweather,Jr, his father Floyd, Sr, Roger Mayweather, and the Golden Boy executives accused Manny Pacquiao of taking steroids or performance enhancing drugs to gain advantage over his opponents during his previous fights.
Pacquiaio denied the charges, saying he passed all drug tests by the Nevada Sports Athletic Commission (NSAC) Oscar de la Hoya and Richard Schaefer defended their statements on Manny Pacquiao’s alleged steroids use, saying that their comments were “opinions and reasonable questions.” Pacquiao's lawyer amended the lawsuit last month and included additional defamatory statements by Floyd' Jr's uncle Roger Mayweather.
The complaint as amended, seeks damages in excess of $5,000,000. In the meantime Schaefer has hired Judd Burstein a former lawyer of Pacquiao who represented the Filipino boxer in his case against former promoter Murad Muhammad in 2005. The allegations by the Mayweather camp that led to the defamation case by Pacquiao have caused the cancellation of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight originally scheduled for March 13.
The cancellation of the fight was further fueled by Mayweather's demand for Olympic-style drug testing protocol which was rejected by the Pacquiao camp. Following the cancellation, Top Rank's Bob Arum proceeded with the March 13 schedule with Joshua Clottey as Mayweather's replacement.
The fight which drew more than 50,000 people to watch the event was held at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Pacquiao won the fight via a 12-round unanimous decision.
Meanwhile, Mayweather has agreed to face Shane Mosley on May 1 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both camps maintain that the highly-anticipated Pacquiao-Mayweather match will eventually happen.
(original article appeared @ Digital Journal )