Today (Thursday June 16th), Federal Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston denied an Emergency Motion filed by Floyd Maywather Jr. and ordered Mayweather to give sworn testimony under oath, beginning tomorrow, June 17. Mayweather is being sued by pound-for-pound champion and Congressman Manny Pacquiao based on what Pacquiao’s team claims to be Mayweather’s defamatory statements accusing Pacquiao of taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Previously, Mayweather filed a motion citing his upcoming bout against Victor Ortiz and the training that was necessary for that as a reason to forgo this portion of the trial until after the fight. This would have allowed him to stay focused on his training, and would have pushed this back for several more months. However, the month was denied.
Pacquiao recently dropped his lawsuit against Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy, and they came to a settlement which included a public apology by Golden Boy, and surely some behind the scenes maneuvering (perhaps allowing Pacquiao-Marquez III to go off without a matching offer to Marquez which would have prevented the bout). However, the lawsuit against Mayweather was not dropped, and after it became official that Mayweather vs. Ortiz was set for September 17th, team Mayweather’s next step was the motion to postpone his deposition and the trial.
Now, with that denied, things will get underway tomorrow. How long this will take or how much Mayweather will need to be focused on this is unclear, however it’s still three months until his fight, and it’s unlikely that this will be a very lengthy procedure at all.
