Oscar De La Hoya: No Negotiations Ever Happened for Pacquiao-Mayweather

Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya told BoxingScene.com on Monday that "nothing was going on" in response to questions about why a bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao never materialized.

Rival promoter Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank, told reporters on July 16 that he had been negotiating with Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, with HBO Sports' Ross Greenburg acting as the mediator.

But De La Hoya denied those assertions during a media day promoting Golden Boy Promotions' July 31 show in Las Vegas. The media day was at The Fortune Gym in Hollywood, Calif., on Monday.

"Obviously, negotiations weren't going on," said De La Hoya. "Nothing was going on. Like I said, Mayweather has the key to making that fight happen."

But in June, De La Hoya spoke differently when asked by Univision reporters how negotiations were going.

"Up until now, it's been a very difficult negotiation process for various reasons, but right now we're very close. We're very close in finalizing the contracts that were once very complicated. The two fighters now realize that this fight must be made," De La Hoya said at the time.



"It has to be made because the boxing fans want to see it happen and right now it's the biggest fight that can be made in the world," said De La Hoya. "It's going to be a big, big fight. I think right now we are very, very close in finalizing the contracts. I can't talk right now in detail about the negotiations, but I will say that we are very close."

De La Hoya explained his comments in June this way:

"I think I said it because I get the question asked so many times that, obviously, I was fed up and tired of it and I just said like, yeah, yeah, it's gonna get made," De La Hoya told BoxingScene.com. "So it was a quick answer that I should have obviously thought about."

Arum said that documents were sent to the handlers through Greenburg for Mayweather (41-0, 25 knockouts) to sign, this after Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) already had agreed in principle to the terms, which included some form of random drug testing.

Pacquiao's camp set a July 16 deadline for Mayweather to agree, and when he didn't, the seven-division champion and present WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king decided to pursue his eighth crown in as many different weight divisions against ex-world champion Antonio Margarito.

Arum has said that Pacquiao and Margarito will battle for the vacant WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) crown on Nov. 13 in Las Vegas or Mexico, with Abu Dhabi also a consideration.

Last week, however, Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, issued a statement denying that negotiations had ever taken place.

"Here are the facts. Al Haymon, [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] Richard Schaefer and myself speak to each other on a regular basis, and the truth is, no negotiations have ever taken place," stated Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.

"Nor was there ever a deal agreed upon by Team Mayweather or Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao on November 13," said Ellerbe. "Either Ross Greenburg or Bob Arum is not telling the truth, but history tells us who is lying."

Arum responded by calling Ellerbe's version of what happened "totally bizarre" and "preposterous."