Source: LA Times

Boxer Manny Pacquiao filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Las Vegas, alleging that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his father defamed him with their comments saying the Filipino star has used performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids. Pacquiao named the Mayweathers and his promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer as defendants. In the suit, Pacquiao says the Mayweathers’ claims that Pacquiao used performance-enhancing drugs are false and that these claims are an attempt to destroy his professional reputation. “I can’t explain why these people are making these recklessly false statements,” said Pacquiao’s attorney Daniel Petrocelli. Pacquiao is asking for damages in excess of $75,000, plus punitive damages.

Pacquiao and Mayweather were expected to meet in a mega-fight March 13, but negotiations have stalled over demands by Mayweather for the fighters to have Olympic-standard blood testing. Asked whether the lawsuit would cause the crumbling negotiations to be entirely scrapped, Petrocelli said, “This is completely independent of whether or not the fight gets made.” Schaefer told the Associated Press that the suit was expected because Pacquiao had been threatening to file one, but that talks continue over a possible Pacquaio-Mayweather fight. “Hopefully, we will know something in the next couple of days,” Schaefer said.