Mayweather bans female reporters from covering Pacquiao bout

LAS VEGAS, May 2 (UPI) -- Two of the most prominent women in sports reporting have been banned from Saturday's bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas.

Michelle Beadle, of ESPN and HBO, and CNN's Rachel Nichols, who have also covered Mayweather's history of domestic violence, tweeted that they were banned from MGM Grand Arena by the Mayweather camp.

Last September, Nichols put Mayweather on the spot during an interview when she asked about his history of domestic violence, the same week the Ray Rice video was released.

"There are many reasons why boxing is on life support," ESPN's Arash Markazi tweeted. "Banning legitimate reporters doing their jobs from covering it is just another one."

"They could have denied credentials but allowed reporters to come to Vegas, promote the fight for a week and then blocked them," he added. "What a joke."

The fight starts at 9 p.m. Saturday on pay-per-view.

"While Mayweather is adored by fight fans, there is a much darker side to his story," Nichols said in her September CNN interview. "He has had a string of domestic violence arrests, citations, and in 2010 an incident that landed him in prison. According to the police report, Mayweather grabbed the mother of his three children and, by the hair, punched her in the head several times, and threatened to kill her. This was all in front of his kids, who he also threatened to kill before one of them called the police."

"But Mayweather pleaded to a reduced charge and spent only two months in jail," Nichols said. "He wasn't ostracized the way Ray Rice has been this week. The Nevada Boxing Commission didn't suspend him the way the NFL suspended Rice, instead, Mayweather has been allowed to continue to churn out paydays and this despite even more women coming forward with stories of abuse in the time since."

After Nichols asked Mayweather about the history of domestic violence and jail time he said that "everything has been allegations. Nothing has been proven, so that's life."

In July, Deadspin detailed seven separate physical assaults on five different women that ended with arrests or citations against the fighter.

"It gives an interesting window into the way an abuser can walk around, maintaining over and over again that nothing is wrong despite hard evidence to the contrary," Nichols said.

In November, USA Today profiled the abuse with Josie Harris, Mayweather's former long-term partner and mother to three of his four children.

Following a light-hearted interview with Mayweather at the ESPYs, Beadle apologized in September, on Twitter.

"OK," Beadle wrote. "To clarify, I made a huge mistake during the ESPYs in an interview w/ Mayweather. I also was not aware of just how horrible his record w/ women has been over the years. After doing the reading, I guarantee I won't make the mistake of treating him or his life lightheartedly. Sometimes I don't know everything. I'm glad I was educated on the topic. And I'll be better. On that note: #nomayweather."

Mayweather's publicist, Kelly Swanson, denies the claim that Mayweather has banned the journalists.

"Nobody was banned from the arena, OK?" Swanson told the Huffington Post.

Beadle later tweeted that she was able to get another credential, but by that time she had already left Las Vegas.

Forbes ranked Mayweather No. 7 in July, in the 2013 Celeberity 100 earnings. Mayweather made $105 million for fights against Saul Alvarez (2013) and Marcos Maidana (2014), according to Forbes.