Flamboyant American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., acknowledged as the world\u2019s highest-paid athlete and who likes to be called \u201cMoney,\u201d was recently denied a visa to visit Australia, according to smb.com.au and billionairesaustralia.com.<\/p>\n
The immigration bar led to the cancellation of promotional activities lined up for Mayweather in Sydney and Melbourne on Feb. 5 and 6.<\/p>\n
Reports said the 37-year-old Mayweather was prevented from entering the country because of his previous criminal offenses for domestic violence, including a prison term for physically abusing his former girlfriend.<\/p>\n
The unbeaten Mayweather had also been accused of beating four other women in the past. He has denied the allegations.<\/p>\n
Regarded as the world\u2019s No.1 pound-for-pound fighter, Mayweather was denied the visa following an online petition that was signed by 46,000 people across the continent.<\/p>\n
The petition read: \u201cAllowing a chronic perpetrator of violence like Floyd Mayweather Jr. to visit Australia sends a terrifying message\u2014that vicious, repeat abuse isn\u2019t serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayweather\u2019s Australia promoter Max Markson said he would appeal the decision.<\/p>\n
Originally set Jan. 29 and 30 in Sydney and Melbourne, Mayweather\u2019s promotional tour was deferred due to the visa problems.<\/p>\n
Mayweather and 30 others in his entourage flew instead to the Caribbean on his private jet, purportedly to while away time.<\/p>\n
Pacquiao fight negotiations<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, last-ditch negotiations for his projected megabuck bout against Manny Pacquiao are said to be continuing in the United States, where the Filipino superstar has been holed up since last month.<\/p>\n Pacquiao had dinner with Prince Harry of Wales in London in the last week of January, served as a judge in the Miss Universe pageant in Miami and, on Thursday (Friday in Manila), was among the invited foreign celebrities in the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Hosted by the US Congress, the affair was graced by President Barack Obama and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, HBO Sports president Ken Hershman said Wednesday the network has done all it could for Mayweather-Pacquiao to push through on May 2.<\/p>\n In an interview with newsday.com, Hershman denied a report that HBO, which owns the right to telecast Pacquiao fights, would prefer to wait until 2016, when Mayweather\u2019s deal with rival network Showtime runs out.<\/p>\n \u201cOur position has been consistent throughout this whole process,\u201d said Hershman. \u201cWe\u2019re here to stand by and help wherever we can to make this fight happen.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Roy Luarca (Inquirer.net) Flamboyant American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., acknowledged as the world\u2019s highest-paid athlete and who likes to be called \u201cMoney,\u201d was recently denied a visa to visit Australia, according to smb.com.au and billionairesaustralia.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,65],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"