Floyd Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao is one of the biggest sports media events of the year, and the undefeated boxer’s history of abusing women has been a leading storyline ahead of the richest fight in boxing history.

On Saturday afternoon ESPN and HBO’s Michelle Beadle and CNN reporter Rachel Nichols, both of whom have covered Mayweather’s history of domestic violence, tweeted that Mayweather’s camp has “banned” them from the MGM Grand Arena. Before Mayweather’s last fight against Marcos Maidana in September, Nichols grilled the boxer on domestic violence in a must-watch interview.

Nearly three hours after her original tweet, Beadle said that her credential was re-approved, but she had left.

Kelly Swanson, who handles PR for Mayweather, refuted the claims.

Swanson spoke to USA TODAY Sports in the media center Saturday and called the incident a misunderstanding, and said that Nichols does indeed have a credential.

“I’ll take it as a misunderstanding. But Rachel Nichols was never banned from the event. She’s been credentialed the whole time. She was in here yesterday . There was a misunderstanding by the credential office as to… they said that she wasn’t credentialed for tonight, however, this shows that she was credentialed all along. So whoever was saying… I don’t know who that was, I had nothing to do with it. And when I saw it, I was like, ‘What is this woman talking about?’ Because she’s always been credentialed, she’s always been welcomed. We didn’t even know until late afternoon who was going to be in the arena. CNN received one seat in the arena, and it was up to them to pick who could go in the arena. We could not make that selection. We let those producers decide who they wanted in that seat. She’s always had a credential. She got all of this information. She’s even getting a gift from the promotion. She’s getting a gift bag. She received a letter when credentials were accepted from the promotion, again, that she received a credential. She has been credentialed for this fight.”

Nichols wrote in a lengthy tweet Saturday evening that she was informed on April 23rd that she would not have access to Saturday’s events, and multiple officials told her again on Friday that she would not be credentialed.

“Have had a bunch of folks asking questions about the Mayweather issue. Here’s what happened: After asking tough questions of Floyd Mayweather on my program, I was not offered press credentials to cover tonight’s fight. In an email dated April 23, I was told I would only be credentialed for the run-up events through the week, but in bold, italic letters the email stated “you do not have any access Saturday to any services or events.” A CNN producer revisited the issue with the Mayweather camp on April 29, confirming to Mayweather’s publicist that I would be in Las Vegas, and the publicist replied that I would still be denied a fight night credential. I was told the same thing when I arrived at the credential office in person on May 1, by two separate officials, in front of several other people. It doesn’t surprise me that now, after facing significant backlash, the Mayweather camp has reversed its position. But despite this, and other outside parties generously offering me their seats, I will not attend the fight. I will also not let fear of retaliation prevent me from asking the tough questions the public deserves answers to in the future.”

Beadle insisted in an interview with Sports Illustrated that she was banned.

“There are emails,” Beadle said. “They lie. It’s their job. But I was banned.”

Journalists were stunned by the original tweets from Beadle and Nichols.

Oscar De La Hoya, who has fought both Pacquiao and Mayweather, called it a “classless move.”

(Greg Presto contributed reporting to this story.)