Oscar de la Hoya has issued an apology to Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao has settled his defamation lawsuit against Oscar de la Hoya and his Golden Boy promotions chief Richard Schaefer over allegations that the Filipino fight king used performance-enhancing drugs.

Terms of the settlement were not released, and there was no indication in a press release that Pacquiao had given up his legal action against boxer Floyd Mayweather, who was also named  in the original lawsuit.

The 2009 legal action action stemmed from the contentious negotiations for a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather bout, a fight much wanted by fans but which has never been put together.

In March, a federal judge in Las Vegas denied a motion to dismiss the suit and ruled the case could go ahead.

Under the terms of their settlement, De la Hoya and Schaefer issued a statement and apology to Pacquiao.

“Richard Schaefer and Oscar de la Hoya, on behalf of themselves and Golden Boy Promotions, wish to make it crystal clear that we never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance enhancing drugs, and further state that we do not have any evidence whatsoever of such use,” their statement said.

“Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and  we apologize if anyone construed our prior remarks as in any way claiming or even suggesting that Manny uses or has used performance  enhancing drugs.”   

Pacquiao has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and in his original 2009 lawsuit he claimed that Mayweather,  his father Floyd Snr and uncle Roger along with de la Hoya and Schaefer “conducted a campaign in a set of interviews to make people think he used them.”   

Talks on a Pacquiao-Mayweather mega-fight bogged down over Mayweather’s demand that both fighters have blood and urine tests up to 14 days before the bout.

Pacquiao said he would feel weakened by blood tests within 24 days of the fight and would not agree to tests any closer to a bout.