Manny Pacquiao Settles Defamation Lawsuit Against Floyd Mayweather
Manny Pacquiao has settled his defamation lawsuit against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Who says the judicial system moves slowly? The resolution of this lawsuit has come much faster than the highly anticipated fight between the two fighters largely considered the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.
In fact, there's still no scheduled fight between the two despite hype that it may finally happen in 2013. But this could be one less hurdle to a fight actually happening.
In the meantime, Pacquiao has dropped his lawsuit and Mayweather issued a statement saying that he wanted to make clear that he never intended to claim that Pacquiao was using performance-enhancing drugs, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Three years ago, the potential matchup between Pacquiao and Mayweather was already long-awaited. While the fight seemed imminent, Mayweather demanded that Pacquiao take a blood test. Pacquiao refused with some vague references to being afraid of needles, which fueled smack-talk (largely by Mayweather) that the Filipino fighter was doping.
Mayweather even took to posting videos suggesting that Pacquiao's run up the weight classes may not have been completely clean, reports the Times.
As Pacquiao makes a living fighting, with staying clean a large part of his profession, he claimed that his reputation was damaged by the speculation. In his lawsuit, he claims that Mayweather defamed him, which basically just means that Mayweather negligently made a false statement to the public which had the effect of hurting Pacquiao's reputation.
Just last week, Mayweather was ordered to pay $114,000 in attorney's fees and costs relating to the lawsuit. Perhaps in an effort to avoid paying any more, Mayweather settled with Pacquiao. The terms of the deal are confidential, but given Mayweather's swift public response denying that he ever tried to tie Pacquiao to cheating, one can safely assume that this prepared statement was part of the settlement.
With the legal troubles out of the way, hopefully the two can finally step into the ring.
Related Resources:
- Settlement reached in Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao defamation lawsuit in Las Vegas (The Associated Press)
- Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight Fails, Mandela's Daughter Owes $7.5M (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)
- Floyd Mayweather Can't Hack Jail, Asks Judge to Let Him Out Early (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)