Promoters planned to go to Dallas to meet with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones yesterday as momentum continued to grow for a March 13 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Promoters Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer were to tour the new Cowboys Stadium along with HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg and listen to a proposal from Jones to host the fight, a person close to the promotion said.
Other leading contenders for the fight are the MGM Grand hotel arena in Las Vegas and the Superdome in New Orleans, said the person, who requested anonymity because both sides agreed not to speak publicly during negotiations.
Neither fighter has formally signed for the fight, though both have agreed in principle to terms. Promoters are so confident it will happen that they are also scouting sites in New York City for a Jan. 6 press conference to formally announce the bout.
Most major fights in recent decades have been in Las Vegas, and Pacquiao and Mayweather have fought their biggest fights at the MGM Grand, which seats about 16,000 for boxing. Many in boxing still consider the MGM to have the inside track on landing the fight, but the trip by promoters to Dallas indicates that they believe Jones will make a competitive bid.
The anticipated demand for the fight brings both the Cowboys Stadium and Superdome into the equation because they can seat far more people. The Dallas stadium could hold 100,000 or more for a fight, including seats on the gridiron.
■PAVLIK READY
AP, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik says his left hand is finally recovered from a staph infection and he feels great heading into a title defense against Miguel Espino next Saturday.
Pavlik was throwing jabs with his left on Tuesday, three days after he was supposed to fight Paul Williams in defense of his WBC and WBO titles. The infection forced Pavlik to twice cancel fights, creating a backlash within the boxing community and even among his most ardent supporters.
Now Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) is healthy again and preparing to face Espino (20-2-1, 9 KOs) in a pay-per-view title defense in Pavlik’s hometown at Youngstown State University. It will come nearly 10 months after his last fight, a win over Marco Rubio on Feb. 21, and end what has become the longest layoff of his career.
■COTTO ACCUSED
AP, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
A former employee of Miguel Cotto filed a sexual harassment lawsuit seeking more than US$500,000 from Puerto Rico’s most popular boxer.
The lawsuit by Martha Chacon Acevedo argues that Cotto made unwanted romantic advances when she worked as an administrator of a residential property owned by the fighter in this US Caribbean territory.
It says Chacon, a Venezuelan, gave in to Cotto’s advances over two months out of fear of losing her job, and was fired in October last year after breaking off the relationship.
The lawsuit was filed in US district court in San Juan on Aug. 24. It was not reported until this week when Cotto’s family released a statement dismissing it as “frivolous, empty and a total fabrication.”
“We are going to leave everything in our lawyers’ hands and everything will be resolved in court,” Miguel Cotto Carrasquillo, the fighter’s father, said in a written statement late on Monday.
Cotto lost the WBO welterweight crown to Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas last month when the referee stopped the fight in the 12th round.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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