Mayweather to testify in Pacquiao lawsuit

LAS VEGAS—Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. was to begin giving sworn testimony on Friday in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao sued Mayweather over statements from Mayweather and others in his camp accusing Pacquiao of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

The two, considered the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, have repeatedly failed to reach terms to meet in the ring in what could be the richest bout in boxing history.

Federal magistrate Judge Robert Johnston on Thursday denied an emergency motion that would have allowed Mayweather to delay testifying.

Mayweather claimed that he needed to concentrate on his September 17 fight against Victor Ortiz.

On May 31, Pacquiao settled his defamation lawsuit against Oscar de la Hoya and his Golden Boy promotions chief Richard Schaefer.

Under the terms of their settlement, de la Hoya and Schaefer issued a statement and apology to Pacquiao, saying they “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.”

Pacquiao has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and in his original 2009 lawsuit he claimed that Mayweather, his father Floyd Sr. and uncle Roger along with de la Hoya and Schaefer “conducted a campaign in a set of interviews to make people think he used them.”

Pacquiao’s lawsuit is not Mayweather’s only pending legal issue.

He also faces felony charges stemming from a domestic dispute and misdemeanor harassment and battery charges in separate cases.