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JUST HOURS BEFORE tonight’s long-anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, both Rachel Nichols of CNN and Michelle Beadle of ESPN and HBO announced on Twitter that they’ve been “banned” from the fight.
While they didn’t explain the reason for the alleged ban, they’ve both been prominent in the discussion on Mayweather’s history of domestic violence.
Beadle and Nichols posted the news within minutes of each other, with both claiming that Mayweather’s camp — which is the lead promoter of the fight through Mayweather Promotions — was responsible for the decision.
Both the MGM Grand and Mayweather Promotions have not responded to requests to comment. However, Kelly Swanson, who is a member of Mayweather’s PR team, took to Twitter to strongly deny that Beadle and Nichols had their credentials blocked.
It is unclear if there are other credentialed reporters who won’t be in attendance.
Even if there was no guarantee for seating, and even if they do still have credentials, as Swanson asserts, both Nichols and Beadle seem pretty sure it was Mayweather’s camp that singled them out for exclusion from the arena.
Shortly after her first tweet, Nichols posted an interview she conducted with Mayweather prior to his fight with Marcos Maidana last September. She asks him hard questions about his history of domestic violence. The interview begins at the 1:44 mark.
“They didn’t say in so many words, as much as they’re not fans of our hot takes? Honestly, not surprised. No one likes to be reminded of the horrible things they’ve done. I’m honored to be linked to Nichols.”
Beadle has made several comments on Twitter about Mayweather’s history of domestic abuse and has also stated that she wouldn’t buy the pay-per-view for the fight.
