A LAS Vegas court on Wednesday denied a
petition for injunction being sought by the Golden Boy
Promotions of Oscar de la Hoya trying to stop the Manny
Pacquiao-Jorge Solis bout from pushing through on May 14 at
the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The court decision means the Pacquiao-Solis
fight will proceed as scheduled, provided Solis can acquire a
United States visa on time.
Pacquiao and Solis, a 27-year-old
undefeated Mexican, were supposed to meet for the first time
Wednesday during a press conference hyping their fight at the
Palms Restaurant in West Hollywood. Solis, however, failed to
show up, with his camp saying he was still applying for a US
visa in Guadalajara.
Reacting to the court decision, Top Rank
promoter Bob Arum told fightnews.com that "Oscar should be
ashamed of himself. He’s making a tremendous amount of money
fighting on May 5th (against Floyd Mayweather Jr.). How can he
try to stop Manny Pacquiao from making a living?"
Arum also lashed out at De la Hoya for
seeking the injunction, saying he only angered Pacquiao’s
fans.
"He has himself to blame if Filipinos don’t
buy his pay-per-view."
De la Hoya and Arum are fighting over the
rights to promote Pacquiao and are currently locked in a court
case.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, was all smiles in
front of the media and said he is very confident he would win
despite missing the services of trainer Freddie Roach, who is
preparing De la Hoya for a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on
May 5.
"Don’t worry because I am in shape,"
Pacquiao said, adding he had some difficulty training in the
Philippines due to the climate. "It was so hot."
The flamboyant southpaw from Gen. Santos
City is training under Roach’s lieutenant, Justin Fortune, who
claimed Pacquiao is doing well and should be ready to go the
full 12 rounds come fight night.
"We still do what Freddie taught me in the
last fight (against Erik Morales) and my assistant coach
Justin (Fortune) knows what he’s gonna do," Pacquiao said.
The 5-foot-10 Solis has a record of 32 wins
and two draws (23 KOs) while the 5-foot-6 Pacquiao has scored
43 wins (34 KOs) against three losses and had two draws.
Meanwhile, Ring Magazine has ranked
Pacquiao second to former World Boxing Council lightweight and
super featherweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. in its top
10 list of the "Best Pound-for-Pound" boxers for the period
ending March 14.
Also in the list were Wingky Wright (middleweight), Jermain
Taylor (middleweight), Bernard Hopkins (light-heavyweight),
Marco Antonio Barrera (junior lightweight), Rafael Marquez
(junior featherweight), Joe Calzaghe (super-middleweight),
Ricky Hatton (junior welterweight) and Shane Mosley
(welterweight).
