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Floyd Mayweather Jr. avoiding deposition in Manny Pacquiao case

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They may not be heading to a boxing ring together, but the legal fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. intensified Thursday.

An attorney for Mayweather informed Pacquiao’s attorney that Mayweather does not plan to show up as requested for a deposition at a Las Vegas law office.

Pacquiao is suing Mayweather and his father for defamation over defamatory statements claiming that the Filipino star has used performance-enhancing drugs to become the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.

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‘We’re anxious to get to trial and, as a result of this, we’ll be seeking a default judgment to win the case by default in the upcoming weeks,’ Pacquiao attorney Daniel Petrocelli said. ‘This is just ducking a deposition.’

Attempts to reach Mayweather and his attorneys Thursday were unsuccessful.

Petrocelli said a Nevada judge denied Mayweather’s emergency appeal to avoid the deposition, in which Petrocelli will have the chance to ask Mayweather to explain what the attorney said has been ‘a steady stream of false and defamatory statements’ alluding to Pacquiao as a user of performance-enhancing drugs.

Later Thursday, Petrocelli said he received a letter from Mayweather attorney Mark Tratos saying the boxer would not appear at the deposition Friday because he planned to appeal the order for him to be there. ‘Even if you appeal, it doesn’t mean you don’t show,’ Petrocelli said. ‘This kind of appeal would never be granted; this is about gathering routine discovery.’

Mayweather is expected to be in Los Angeles on June 27 to begin a national press tour ahead of his Sept. 17 welterweight title fight against world champion Victor Ortiz of Ventura.

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-- Lance Pugmire

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