Boxing News: Lawsuits against Mayweather-Pacquiao bout head to California
Complainants of the mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will discuss their cases in front of a federal judge in California. Plaintiffs, who wants their pay-per-view money back and called the mega-fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao a fraud, had filed at least 32 lawsuits in California and eight other States since mid-May.
A panel of judges ruled on Friday that lawsuits filed in several states, including Nevada, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Texas, will be heard in the Central District of California where Pacquiao was said to have injured his shoulder while training for his fight against Mayweather, reports the San Francisco Chronicles. Judge R. Gary Klausner will decide if the Pacquiao cases are granted class-action status before any trial proceeds.
The lawsuits argue that the boxer’s injury was not revealed until after the fight, too late for 4.4 million viewers who had already paid up to $100 each to watch it. Pacquiao and Top Rank Promotions are named in all of the lawsuits, while most include Mayweather, and his promoters HBO and Showtime, who claimed they earned more than $400 million from the bout.
Meanwhile, despite talks of a potential fight with British boxer Amir Khan, Freddie Roach still wants Danny Garcia as Pacquiao’s next opponent. Pacquiao, who is currently recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered against Mayweather, is expected to fight Khan next year in the Middle East after Top Rank Promotion boss Bob Arum confirmed the possible matchup.
According to Boxing News Online, Roach wants the Filipino boxing icon to have an easy opponent in his comeback fight. Roach said he wants Garcia, the reigning WBA champion in the light welterweight division, as Pacquiao’s next victim, saying that the former eight-division titlist could knock the American boxer out.
“His dad psyched Amir Khan out but he won’t psych Pacquiao out I promise. Pacquiao will knock Garcia out,” Roach said.
Garcia, who holds a record of 31-0 with 18 knockouts, could be an interesting opponent for the 36-year-old Pacquiao. However, the fight would be difficult to make, with Garcia fighting under Al Haymon and Pacquiao under HBO.
Roach also revealed that Pacquiao’s recovery has been doing well, but the two-time coach of the year said it would take three to six months before the Filipino competes in the ring again. Roach also said that a Pacquiao-Khan fight would be interesting because of the history of both fighters, who had trained and sparred together for a few rounds.
“People have spoken to me about a fight with Amir, he has some friends who train at the gym and they’ve asked me to sit down in some meetings to discuss it,” Roach said.
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