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 RETIRED
judge Daniel Weinstein is on the threshold of
adding another diplomatic feather in his cap.
Sources
privy to perhaps the biggest boxing story outside of the
squared circle in years revealed that camps fighting for
the promotional rights of Manny Pacquiao have finally
realized the significance of settling their differences.
“It is
about to draw to a close and chances are, there will be
no litigation to resolve this case,” disclosed the
source. “The gag order is still in effect but probably
within the week or at most early next week, there will
be a press briefing on whatever agreement they have
reached.”
BusinessMirror broke out the story last week about the
hiring of Weinstein, the former San Francisco Superior
court judge now in command of the mediation process that
has been going on for nearly two weeks.
Weinstein is considered one of
America’s
preeminent mediators of complex civil disputes and a
pioneer in the development of mediation. His expertise
includes designing and resolving complex, multiparty,
high-stakes cases.
“He’s
really doing an excellent job in a case many thought
will end up being litigated,” added the source.
Weinstein works for JAMS, a well-known resolution expert
whose know-how is to provide the best possible
resolution to its clients’ disputes.
With
this development, observers finally have a much clearer
picture of who Pacquiao’s next opponent will be.
Mexican
contender Humberto Soto, touted as the frontrunner in
the Pacquiao derby, may have seen his dream fight turn
into a nightmare at least for this year.
Soto,
aside from tearing apart Pacquiao’s younger brother
Bobby in seven rounds early this month, is being
promoter by Top Rank Inc., one of the protagonists in
the Pacquiao case.
Top
Rank, owned by veteran promoter Bob Arum, is recognized
by Pacquiao as his American promotional outfit.
“It’s
getting really close to deem it safe to say that
Pacquiao’s next foe will be a Golden Boy-promoted
fighter,” another source close to Pacquiao told
BusinessMirror yesterday.
One of
GBP’s top fighters, Mexican icon Marco Antonio Barrera,
has been adamant in his desire to face Pacquiao in a
rematch.
“That
also helped a lot with the [mediation] process. Barrera
in some ways has been pressuring GBP to get him the
Pacquiao bout. It’s the only fight he wants before he
finally hang up his gloves,” disclosed the same source.
The
33-year-old Barrera (63-5, 42 knockouts), took a beating
in his only battle with Pacquiao in November 2003 at the
Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Then
a big underdog, Pacquiao scored an emphatic 11th-round
technical knockout win over Barrera, a victory that
instantly propelled the Filipino brawler to celebrity
status.
Also a
possibility is a return bout with another GBP fighter,
World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion Juan
Manuel Marquez.
But the
Marquez bout may take a while as the Mexican champion is
slated to defend his crown against Jorge Barrios of
Argentina this September 15 at the MGM Grand Garden
Arena in
Las Vegas.
The
33-year-old Marquez (47-3-1, 35 knockouts), who snatched
the crown from Barrera via 12-round decision last March,
came back from three first-round knockdowns to salvage a
draw with Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 knockouts) in their world
featherweight battle three years ago in Las Vegas.
GBP and
Top Rank have been locking horns for several months as
they were both able to convince Pacquiao to sign similar
promotional deals.
First,
Pacquiao entered into a seven-fight deal last September
with fellow boxing superstar Oscar de la Hoya, who owns
GBP.
After
his three-round conquest of Erik Morales late last year,
Pacquiao signed another pact with Top Rank.
Weinstein, feted as one of the Power Mediators of 2007,
was named US representative to the Bosnian Privatization
Commission in 1988, overseeing the transfer of $15
billion of state-owned assets to citizens of Bosnia.
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