Pacquiao – Mayweather to go to mediation tomorrow

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the saga between and Floyd Mayweather will take another turn on Tuesday as the sides will head to mediation in Santa Monica, California.

“We’re going into mediation,” chairman , Pacquiao’s , told ESPN.com. “This guy (mediator, Daniel Weinstein) was successful resolving our nutty problem before and hopefully he can be successful this time. He’s a guy who is a big fight fan and loves the sport, and I found him last time to be a delight to deal with. Everybody did.”

At the time of the previous mediation, the companies had several ongoing lawsuits, including the one at the center of the bad blood: ownership of the promotional rights to Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before eventually pledging his loyalty to Top Rank.

When the disputes were settled in June 2007, Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer both credited Weinstein’s steady hand for getting them to reach an accord. Under the global settlement, Top Rank retained Pacquiao’s promotional rights with Golden Boy receiving a percentage of Top Rank’s profit from his future bouts.

The hope is that Weinstein can once again help the sides see their way through what has become an increasingly nasty battle in an effort to finalize the bout between titlist Pacquiao and Mayweather, the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in a fight many believe will break the pay-per- view record of 2.44 million buys. Mayweather’s 2007 fight with Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya set the record.

Top Rank and Golden Boy have agreed on all points on the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight except for one: The protocol for drug testing.

One issue sure to be discussed in front of the mediator is the impact of the defamation lawsuit Pacquiao filed last week in Nevada U.S. District Court against Mayweather Jr., Schaefer, De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions.

In the suit, Pacquiao alleges they made false and defamatory statements and sullied his reputation by accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao denies he has ever used PEDs and has never failed a drug test.

If mediation fails, and the fight does not get made, Arum said he will match Pacquiao with junior titlist Yuri Foreman, whom he also promotes, on March 20 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas so Pacquiao could attempt to win a title in a record eighth weight division.

Mayweather could still fight on March 13 at the MGM and potentially face former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi.