Pacquiao-Mayweather mediator attempts to clarify failed talks -- Los Angeles Times

By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times

The mediator who worked to strike a deal between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao today attempted to set the record straight as to why negotiations fell apart and why Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, is saying the fight is off.

Mediator Daniel Weinstein, a retired federal judge who listened to the Pacquiao and Mayweather representatives all day Tuesday and continued talks Wednesday, said in a statement released by Mayweather's promoters that the fight unraveled because "the parties could not agree on a testing protocol acceptable to all."

A statement by Mayweather is expected shortly, but Weinstein also noted in his statement that he wanted to correct some "erroneous" news reports of why the talks crashed.

Arum said Wednesday night that Mayweather ultimately didn't want to risk losing, with another source close to the negotiiations saying Pacquiao conceded to allow a blood test 24 days before the fight -- he previously would allow a blood draw only 30 days before the bout -- and sought an apology from Mayweather's team for implying the Filipino star has used performance-enhancing drugs.

Weinstein did not address specifics but made these points testifying to Mayweather's cooperativeness:

-- Both parties participated in the mediation in good faith. Both parties participated in many hours of negotiation, with a number of proposals issued by each side and carefully considered by the parties and their representatives."

-- The mediator himself did not formulate, recommend or issue a mediator's proposal. The mediator did not make an evaluation or finding that any one of the many proposals considered by the parties was the correct protocol.

-- Any attempt to characterize the mediation process as an acceptance or rejection by any of the parties of a mediator's or an arbiter's proposal or of any specific proposal is false.

Weinstein also scolded comments like those by Arum as "violations of the strict confidentiality to which the parties and their representatives agreed and which they authorized the mediator to enforce."

A person close to the negotiations told The Times today that Pacquiao's agreement to allow a blood draw 24 days before the fight fell short of the Mayweather camp's desire for Pacquiao to be tested 14 days before the super-fight that was scheduled for March 13 in Las Vegas.

-- Lance Pugmire

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com