By Steve Kim, SecondsOut.com
I guess my New Years resolution for 2010 will be to have fewer lunches at Rafael’s, my favorite Mexican restaurant located on Beverly Blvd. and Wilcox Ave. in Montebello( a few short blocks from my office). Before I started working out at the nearby Bally’s this early afternoon, I was informed that talks between the camps of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were still on-going and productive.
Hey, perhaps this whole mess could be salvaged after all for March 13Th.
Then hours later as I was consuming my albondigas soup( which is Mexican for ’meatball) this arrived in my email box courtesy of veteran boxing scribe Michael Marley. I was actually informed of this via BBM message:http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m12d30-Manny-Pacquiao-challenges-Yuri-Foreman-March-20
Yeah, it looks like Pacquiao could be facing Yuri Foreman, the current WBA jr. middleweight titlist. Which was news to Golden Boy CEO, Richard Schaefer, who told Maxboxing.com at around 4:15 pm," That’s what I’m hearing, but again, Bruce Binkow and Todd DuBoef are still having conversations. So I’m hearing these things. Supposedly Bob( Arum) mentioned it to Robert Morales and to Dan Rafael, that they are going to go with Yuri Foreman."
So what’s the plan with Mayweather?
"I’m not going to discuss what we’re going to do next," said Schaefer."I have reached out to Bruce and asked him to reach out to Todd. And if this is really the case, if they are walking away from the fight and are going to fight Foreman, if that’s the case, I will have conversations with Team Mayweather on what they want to do next." At this stage, Schaefer didn’t seem to know much more than anybody else."I talked to Bruce Binkow about 15 minutes ago and he is waiting to hear from Todd. They talked earlier today trying to gap that window as it relates to the blood testing, the cut-off date. These conversations were supposedly productive and so that’s all I know."
About a half-hour later, I received a call from Arum, who is wrapping up his vacation in Mexico. He confirmed to Maxboxing regarding Foreman,"That’s the fight we’re working on." Arum will arrive in Las Vegas on Saturday, and at that point he will start to negotiate that bout.
What also angered the veteran promoter was this story by Tim Smith of the New York Daily News:(http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/12/25/2009-12-25_a_test_of_ethics.html)
That story included this interesting tidbit from an anonymous source: "According to a source familiar with the talks, Pacquiao’s representatives asked what penalties Pacquiao would face if he tested dirty, and also if a dirty test result could be kept secret so that the integrity of the fight wouldn’t be ruined in the public eye."
Which is odd, given that the whole issue of this extra battery of tests was to show the public that there was an even playing field where both sides were abiding by the laws and regulations of the commission. Arum said of this passage,"It’s totally crazy! What kind of b*llshit is that?!?!"
This was an eventful day as Pacquiao filed a federal defamation lawsuit against the Mayweather’s, Oscar De La Hoya and Schaefer, over the comments that they have made regarding his possible usage of illegal performance enhancing drugs.
When asked if Binkow and DuBoef were still talking, Arum answered,"No, no, no! As far as we’re concerned, we filed the lawsuit and we’re going to go ahead with the Foreman fight. As far as Mayweather, we’re going to fight Foreman and maybe revisit this if they stop acting like assholes in the summer and fall. No use talking further, we’re talked out. We have a fighter who is extremely upset, we’re upset.
"This has been a smear campaign."
( Of course, this could all change by the morning. You never know.)
Source: secondsout.com
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