Mayweather on the ropes as CSI seeks to stop Zambidis exhibition

Promoter claims 'novelty event' vs. Tyson, rematch against Pacquiao come first, sues for millions in damages

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The legal fight between Floyd Mayweather and promoter CSI Entertainment, which signed him to a multi-event agreement that included an exhibition with Mike Tyson followed by an official boxing rematch with Manny Pacquiao, will continue on Wednesday afternoon at a hearing in federal court in the Southern District of New York, as part of the breach of contract lawsuit CSI filed against him on Thursday.

The hearing, originally scheduled for Monday afternoon but postponed, is to obtain a ruling on the six-page motion CSI filed on Friday seeking a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order to stop Mayweather from engaging in an exhibition bout against retired Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis on Saturday in Athens.

CSI also is seeking to prevent Mayweather, who it claims exclusive rights to, from facing anyone before honoring his contract to face heavyweight legend Tyson in a long-planned exhibition that was delayed from the spring due to a Tyson hand injury, although no date, site or broadcaster was ever announced.

CSI, which accuses Mayweather of “an inexcusable breach of contractual obligations,” claims in the 34-page lawsuit against him and co-defendant Frist Apex Ventures, a copy of which was obtained by Fight Freaks Unite, that it has already advanced Mayweather $4.5 million related to his guarantees for the Tyson and Pacquiao events

In all, CSI is seeking nearly $7 million in restitution from Mayweather, 49, and Frist Apex Ventures.

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Mayweather, who is mired in severe financial problems despite having grossed around $1.2 billion during his career, also faces criminal charges in another matter. Days before CSI filed suit, Mayweather was accused of knowingly passing a bad check for $200,000 to purchase a watch in Las Vegas. He faces two felony charges in the case that could result in up to 24 years in prison if convicted, according to Clark County, Nevada, online court records.

Attorney Judd Burstein, who has represented fighters such as Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley, and is representing CSI, said Mayweather is desperate for cash to deal with his mountain of debt and lawsuits — the reason he plans to end his nine-year retirement for the official bout with Pacquiao — but has refused to follow through on his contractual obligations.

The Internal Revenue Service in March levied a $7.2 million tax lien against Mayweather for unpaid taxes in 2018 and 2023 and he has been ordered to pay $1 million in back child support after fathering a child with one of the dancers at his now-shuttered Las Vegas strip club.

He also is being sued in multiple cases alleging a trail of unpaid bills for apartment rentals, private jet service and jewelry.

“Floyd Mayweather is broke no matter what he wants to tell you,” Burstein told Fight Freaks Unite. “Nobody owes the IRS $7.5 million and passes bad checks for $200,000 if they have money. Floyd Mayweather is no different than Joe Louis, who ended up being a greeter at a Las Vegas casino (to make money to pay his IRS debts).”

CSI said in its lawsuit that, per their contract, Mayweather is not permitted to participate in any bouts before fulfilling his obligations to CSI, although the Greek promoter has already paid Mayweather a $2.5 million advance, a source with knowledge of the deal told Fight Freaks Unite.

CSI also last week sent a legal notice to DAZN, which announced earlier this month that it would carry the exhibition with Zambidis as a pay-per-view event, advising it of its rights to Mayweather and that it would be damaged if DAZN streamed the exhibition. DAZN, with no announcement, has dropped Mayweather-Zambidis from its schedule. A DAZN spokesperson declined to comment. Nobody from Mayweather’s team could be reached for comment.

CSI said in the suit that if Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), the Hall of Fame five-division champion and former longtime pound-for-pound king, proceeds against Zambidis without its involvement “it will utterly and irreversibly undermine their credibility. That is precisely what Mayweather is publicly proposing to do. Indeed, the day after CSI Sports Events paid a $150,000 advance directly to Mayweather under one of the contracts at issue in this case — which was on top of the $4.5 million they had already paid Frist for the exclusive right to Mayweather’s services — Mayweather posted on Instagram, the popular social media platform, that instead of fighting Tyson with CSI Sports Events as the broadcaster, his next bout would be against the relatively unknown Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis in Athens, Greece, on June 27, 2026.”

According to the suit, Mayweather was due $14 million “in total compensation” for the Tyson exhibition and was paid a $2 million advance through Frist on Aug. 11, 2025.

The next month, CSI announced the Mayweather-Tyson event — which Mayweather also posted about on his social media platforms — would take place in the spring of 2026, though it was later delayed due in part to Tyson’s injury.

In November 2025, Mayweather signed for the Pacquiao fight which would be the next bout after the Tyson exhibition and it was scheduled for this September in Las Vegas with Netflix set to stream it.

“It was essential that the Tyson fight — and only the Tyson fight — precede the Pacquiao fight so that the Tyson fight mega event could build momentum for, and enhance the significance of, the Pacquiao fight,” CSI’s lawsuit said. “The Tyson fight had received tremendous press coverage and was poised to be a massive spectacle, but was a novelty event. It was important that the Tyson fight represented Mayweather’s return to boxing to help build excitement around the fight. It was crucial not to do anything that could undermine the value of the Tyson fight.

“As a 12-round professional bout, the Pacquiao fight would be a dangerous fight with a risk of serious injury that could jeopardize the Tyson fight; and CSI had already published a press release that Mayweather was coming out of retirement and signed exclusively with CSI/Fight Sports. If Mayweather fought another opponent without the CSI brand, it would materially undermine the value of CSI Entertainment Events’ exclusive rights to Mayweather’s upcoming fights.”

According to the suit, Mayweather was to be paid $35 million with 20 percent of the event revenues for any pay-per-view component or $50 million at CSI’s election if there was no pay-per-view element.

Further, if Pacquiao was unavailable, Mayweather would fight another “suitable opponent for a $20 million purse” with 20 percent of the pay-per-view revenue or a $25 million flat fee. On Nov. 6, 2025, CSI paid Mayweather a $2.5 million advance through Frist, pursuant to the terms of the agreement. Mayweather is suing Frist in a separate case, accusing the company of breach of fiduciary duty.

‘Floyd Mayweather is broke no matter what he wants to tell you. Nobody owes the IRS $7.5 million and passes bad checks for $200,000 if they have money,’ — CSI attorney Judd Burstein

CSI said in the suit that Mayweather breached their agreement when he failed to fulfill a contractual obligated to post to his official Twitter/X account by Nov. 17, 2025 that he will “unretire after the Tyson fight, and restart his professional career and the rights to his next bout after the Tyson fight is exclusively with CSI/Fight Sports.”

CSI alleged that when Mayweather would not post to social media about his official return to boxing for the Pacquiao fight it went through his then-business manager Jona Rechnitz, Mayweather’s designated CSI contact, in an effort to get him to fulfill the obligation but discovered that “he was in the process of selling those very same rights to a third party.”

CSI said Mayweather made a deal in December 2025 with the company EverWonder for the Pacquiao fight to be on Netflix with Mayweather to receive $24.75 million, including a $2.75 million advance with the potential for a $3.75 million bonus.

“Therefore (Mayweather) accepted advances from both CSI Entertainment Events and EverWonder in connection with the same proposed fight against Pacquiao,” CSI said in the suit. “On further information and belief, Mayweather, through Frist, took an additional $5.8 million advance from a third-party lender against the EverWonder-Mayweather contract.”

CSI and EverWonder then began to discuss possible solutions, the suit said.

“While plaintiffs were shocked to learn of Mayweather’s double-dealing, CSI Sports Events had Mayweather under contract for the Tyson fight that was coming up in the spring of 2026,” the suit said. “Accordingly, rather than sue Mayweather immediately, plaintiffs negotiated with his representatives and EverWonder hoping to reach an agreement that would preserve their valuable, bargained-for rights to the Tyson fight, the Pacquiao fight, and certain rights to Mayweather’s future fights.”

Those talks were disrupted when Zambidis announced the Mayweather exhibition on his Instagram account on Feb. 3 but they were assured by Rechnitz that Mayweather had not signed to face Zambidis.

Eventually, CSI agreed to have Netflix show Mayweather-Pacquiao II subject to CSI branding rights and because it was also “granted exclusive rights to Mayweather’s next fight immediately after the Pacquiao fight. It did not have those rights before. Frist was also required to repay the $2.5 million deposit that CSI Entertainment Events had paid on the Pacquiao fight.”

Under the deal for the Tyson exhibition, Mayweather was entitled to a $150,000 installment upon completion of his medicals. According the suit, he requested the payment in cash, so CSI’s top executives, brothers Richard and Craig Miele, arranged to meet Mayweather at a Beverly Hills, California, hotel to deliver the cash and to discuss future plans on March 1. However, after the Mieles traveled from the East Coast, Mayweather instead sent a female companion, Chelsea Rae Flowers, to receive the money. Mayweather later signed a receipt for the cash, the suit said.

The next day Mayweather posted on his Instagram account that he was fighting Zambidis in Greece on June 27.

“That Mayweather would publicize the Zambidis fight in breach of his contractual obligations the very day after he had received a $150,000 advance payment for the Tyson fight was shocking,” the lawsuit said. “Nevertheless, in the hopes of preserving their valuable rights, plaintiffs did not immediately sue Mayweather. Instead, CSI Sports Events retained counsel in Greece to take steps to prevent the Zambidis fight from going forward.”

According to the suit, on March 13, Ticketmaster, which had been sent a cease and desist letter to stop selling tickets for the Zambidis bout, “responded that it was satisfied regarding CSI’s rights and that it was suspending ticket sales for the Zambidis fight.”

Days later, CSI sent Mayweather a proposed agreement that would have allowed the Zambidis fight to go forward on the conditions that the Tyson fight went first, and that CSI would produce and broadcast the Zambidis fight, “thereby ensuring that plaintiffs’ association with Mayweather would remain intact. Thereafter, Mayweather did not publicly or otherwise indicate that he intended to go ahead with the Zambidis fight. Consequently, CSI reasonably understood that Mayweather had backed down.”

But on May 7 Mayweather held a press conference in Las Vegas announcing the fight would go ahead on June 27.

On June 9, Mayweather attorney David Jonelis sent CSI a letter saying Mayweather had terminated his contract with CSI. Jonelis said in the letter, which was obtained by FFU, that CSI was making an “unlawful attempt to prevent Mr. Mayweather from practicing his trade in connection with other fights on other dates.” A week later CSI filed its lawsuit.

Earlier this year Mayweather sued Showtime, his longtime broadcast home, for $340 million in misappropriated funds he claims he is due from his pay-per-view events. He also sued Frist Apex Ventures and the business manager Rechnitz for $175 million alleging fraud.

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Mayweather: Sean Michael Ham/Mayweather Promotions; Mayweather-Pacquiao: Esther Lin/Showtime