MANILA, Philippines - A retired federal judge once voted as Bay Area’s most popular mediator will sit down with representatives of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather on Tuesday (tomorrow in Manila) in a determined effort to save the March 13 showdown between the two boxing superstars.
Daniel Weinstein will receive Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Todd duBoef, for Pacquiao, and most likely Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonad Ellerbe, for Mayweather, at his Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services or JAMS office in Santa Monica.
Negotiations for the fight that could break all existing records in boxing came to a screeching halt following disagreements on drug-testing procedures. Mayweather wants a random Olympic style procedure, while Pacquiao likes it the way it’s always been done, Nevada style, mostly based on urine.
But there’s this ray of hope that the fight, which assures both fighters of paychecks probably no less than $25 million, could still happen despite a court case filed by Pacquiao against the Mayweathers, Schaefer and Golden Boy chief Oscar dela Hoya, for raising the issue that Pacquiao is into performance-enhancing drugs.
Through the LA-based law firm O’Melveny and Myers, and attorney Daniel Petrocelli, Pacquiao is seeking damages in excess of $75,000.
Weinstein, a cum laude at both the Harvard Law School (1965) and Stanford University (1962) said in his online profile that, “I especially enjoy taking on large, difficult and complex cases and designing a resolution process tailored specifically to that dispute, then sticking with it tirelessly until it settles.”
In an article that came out of fanhouse.com, Ellerbe said, “We’re still trying to make a deal. We feel that this is the biggest fight in the history of boxing. We want to give this fight to the fans.”
The dropping of the case could be part of a new deal even as Arum said that for the fight to move on as planned, as scheduled, the Mayweathers, and those included in the charge, would have to issue a public apology to Pacquiao, and “drop” their demand for random blood testing.
“What they have to do – and what I know the option is going to be – is that they have to apologize. All of them. They have to make a meaningful apology,” Arum told fanhouse.com
“If they want random blood-testing, they would have to go before the Nevada Commission and petition the commission for that. They have to agree that the Nevada Commission is regulating this fight – period. No outside agency, no nothing. They have to go with the Nevada Commission – period,” said the Top Rank big boss.
Pacquiao enjoys a couple of options if the Mayweather fight goes down the drain. Being the hottest boxer out there, he could face a line of possible opponents, choose anyone among them and still make millions. Arum is looking at Yuri Foreman, the junior middleweight champion, while trainer Freddie Roach wants Juan Manuel Marquez.
Then there’s Paulie Malignaggi, and Shane Mosley or Edwin Valero who should gladly face Pacquiao, with or without any blood tests. Mayweather, on his part, is looking at Matthew Hatton, younger brother of Ricky Hatton, just in case the fight with Pacquiao gets knocked out.