Boxer opts for neutral corner
As with most things in boxing, the quest for a showdown between World Boxing Council super lightweight champion Arturo Gatti and No. 1 contender Floyd Mayweather Jr. turns out to be not what it appeared to be.
After Gatti knocked out James Leija Saturday night in Atlantic City, sources in Gatti's promotional company said Mayweather didn't show up for a planned announcement of a Gatti-Mayweather pay-per-view show after also not showing up to accept a plea bargain agreement in an assault case in his native Grand Rapids, Mich., earlier in the week. Mayweather also has a pending domestic violence charge in Las Vegas, and there was confusion over exactly which charges were in question and whether he was scheduled to appear anywhere last week to do anything.
The Las Vegas case, it turns out, has a July trial date and would have no effect on a Gatti-Mayweather fight. Mayweather was not set to make a plea in that case and, in fact, contends he is innocent. His associates tried to persuade him to go to Grand Rapids last Thursday or Friday on his way to Atlantic City either to enter a no-contest plea on the misdemeanor assault charge or have the trial postponed until after a May fight with Gatti.
Mayweather did not show up in December for a hearing in that case, so a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He later convinced the judge that there had been confusion about the court date because he was in training for a Jan. 23 fight and never received the notice of a court appearance.
In any case, Mayweather definitely did not show up last week in either Grand Rapids or Atlantic City even though Gatti's people had been assured by Mayweather's advisers that the matter would be taken care of before the Gatti-Leija fight so the match with Mayweather could be announced Saturday night.
Main Events, which promotes Gatti, has told Mayweather's people that a deal must be signed by the end of the week or the fight cannot be made because of the lead time required to publicize a pay-per-view fight in which both sides are working on percentage of sales. Mayweather's lawyers have been engaged in what an adviser called "negotiations" to convince the fighter to get the matter in Grand Rapids resolved so the fight can be made official.
Mayweather refused because he contends he wasn't even involved in the assault, which led to the plantiff being hit with a champagne bottle. He also is fearful of a pending civil suit and how it might be affected by a no-contest plea. He also was reluctant to make any deal until after Gatti won, because if the champion lost to Leija, the pay-per-view fight would have gone away and Mayweather would have been stuck with a plea agreement on a charge he feels he's innocent of. HBO had planned to interview Mayweather during the Gatti-Leija fight to hype the spring pay-per-view show, but when no deal was struck in Grand Rapids, network executives decided it would be unwise to hype a fight that might not happen. According to sources with both the Mayweather camp and HBO, Main Events agreed with that decision. Main Events officials, however, were livid that the problem hadn't been resolved and believe that Mayweather's people lied about what was going to happen last week. Mayweather's people contend nothing had been agreed to but that the matter will be resolved this week.
