Pacquiao Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Golden Boy Promotions

Maybe the icy relations between Top Rank and Golden Boy are starting to thaw, as Bob Arum's cash cow, Manny Pacquiao, has settled his defamation lawsuit against Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya on confidential terms.

In connection with the dismissal, Mr. Schaefer and Mr. De La Hoya made the following statement:

Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya, on behalf of themselves and Golden Boy Promotions, wish to make it crystal clear that we never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance enhancing drugs, and further state that we do not have any evidence whatsoever of such use.

Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and we apologize if anyone construed our prior remarks as in any way claiming or even suggesting that Manny uses or has used performance enhancing drugs.

This settlement is another surprise in a series of increasingly cordial moves between the two sides.  Recently De La Hoya pledged to put the bickering aside in the interests of creating exciting fights between fighters from each camp.

In accordance with this proclamation, Golden Boy declined to match an offer for fighter Juan Manuel Marquez, and thus, paved the way for him to meet up with Pacquiao in the fall.

It should be noted that the first real chatter about Pacquiao and PED's originated from Floyd Mayweather Junior, who attempted to induce Pacquiao into taking additional drug tests not required by the Nevada Boxing Commission.

Some saw that as a ploy to get into Pacquiao's head, others theorized that Mayweather's demands indicated a fear of Pacquiao's power since Floyd had never made such requests in the past. Given Floyd's alleged attempts to price himself out of a fight with Pacquiao by asking for a $100 million payday, maybe the latter view is the correct take on the issue.

Pacquiao's lawsuit against Mayweather is still ongoing.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com