Notebook: Pacquiao faces lawsuit seeking to stop him from fighting Spence

Paradigm Sports’ Audie Attar, who signed boxing legend Manny Pacquiao to a management agreement in February 2020, filed a breach of contract lawsuit against him on Friday in California superior court in Orange County.

Attar, who also manages UFC superstar Conor McGregor, is seeking repayment of a $3.3 million advance given to Pacquiao and an injunction that would prevent Pacquiao from facing unified welterweight world titlist Errol Spence Jr. in a much-anticipated showdown that is scheduled to headline a Fox Sports pay-per-view event on Aug. 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Paradigm asserts in the 21-page lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Fight Freaks Unite, that Pacquiao’s various “hangers-on repeatedly undermined Paradigm’s negotiating position by publicly claiming to represent Pacquiao’s interests. In response, Paradigm and Pacquiao entered into a series of agreements ostensibly to allow Paradigm to effectively represent him by confirming its authority to do so, and renouncing the interlopers. But Pacquiao never honored his contractual obligations to explicitly confirm the rights he repeatedly granted to Paradigm in writing.

“Pacquiao did this despite accepting and refusing to return an advance of $3.3 million. In a final betrayal, and in complete violation of Paradigm’s exclusive rights, Pacquiao himself announced a fight with Errol Spence Jr. … In addition to the millions of dollars in straightforward economic loss that Paradigm stands to suffer, the damage to its reputation resulting from Pacquiao’s breaches is incalculable. Just when Paradigm was at the cusp of establishing itself as a major player in professional boxing, Pacquiao has left its reputation as a boxing representative in tatters. If Pacquiao’s breaches go unanswered, the damage to Paradigm’s reputation will be irrevocable. Indeed, fighters have already walked away from Paradigm.”

Pacquiao issued a statement saying Paradigm has no case.

“Paradigm Sports’ lawsuit against me has no merit,” Pacquiao said. “I have an absolute right under the agreement with Paradigm to engage in the upcoming bout with Errol Spence. If this frivolous lawsuit continues, I will be proven correct in court.”

According to the lawsuit, written by attorney Judd Burstein — who has vast experience in boxing litigation and once served as Pacquiao’s attorney to extricate him from a promotional contract with Murad Muhammad — Pacquiao had agreed to pay Paradigm 10 percent of income received from his fights and 20 percent of income derived from marketing, commercial and media contracts.

Paradigm said in the suit that within days of the deal being signed it began discussions with then DAZN-executive chairman John Skipper and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn on a “remarkable 4-fight deal for Pacquiao worth at least $100 million, including a $20 million signing bonus. Two of the four fights would be held in Saudi Arabia, the first of which would be against Mikey Garcia in June or July 2020.

“However, before Paradigm could reduce any of the terms of the deal to writing, Pacquiao’s associates, Sean Gibbons, Winchell Campos and attorney Tom Falgui, interfered with Paradigm’s rights by publicly claiming to be Pacquiao’s authorized representatives.”

Paradigm claims in the suit Pacquiao’s associates attempted to negotiate a separate fight contract with Hearn through the Saudi Arabian group but did so at Pacquiao’s direction in violation of the Paradigm contract.

Paradigm said that undermined its efforts and resulted in the Saudi group Skill Challenge and Hearn to only offer Pacquiao a one-fight deal worth $25 million before Attar “was able to re-engage discussions for a two-fight deal worth $50 million at $25 million per fight, and with a potential $10 million signing bonus.”

The suit went on to detail Paradigm’s continued efforts to land Pacquiao the best deal possible, including details about potential fights that were discussed between Pacquiao and McGregor and Pacquiao and Ryan Garcia, as well as various alleged roadblocks presented by Pacquiao and his associates.

“Remarkably, despite this interference, on or around February 7, 2021, Paradigm and Attar were able to negotiate the terms of a Pacquiao fight against Mikey Garcia,” the lawsuit said. “Under the deal secured by Paradigm, the fight was scheduled for May 15, 2021, in Dubai, and Pacquiao would receive a total fight purse of $25 million, with a $5 million advance. Thereafter, on February 9, 2021, Pacquiao tagged Paradigm and Attar in a Twitter post which stated: ‘Training camp has begun. I’m ready to get back in the ring and to further add to my legacy in the sport of boxing. Big news coming soon.’”

But the suit then detailed the deal falling apart in part over Pacquiao supposedly insisting that he keep the $5 million advance “no matter what happened,” which concerned the investors.

Then, on May 21 — hours before Paradigm believed things had been worked out and that Pacquiao would sign the agreement to face Garcia — “Pacquiao unabashedly tweeted an announcement that he would be fighting Errol Spence, Jr.,” the lawsuit said. “Pacquiao knew full well that Paradigm had exclusive rights to schedule his next two immediate fights. Nevertheless, in bad faith and material breach of the parties’ contracts, Pacquiao, upon information and belief, had surreptitiously entered into a contract to fight Spence. Of course, Pacquiao also breached his contractual duty to notify Paradigm of any fight opportunity offered to him.

“Paradigm devoted an immense amount of time and resources to negotiating fight contracts, sponsorships, marketing opportunities and more, all for Pacquiao’s benefit. In return, Pacquiao’s actions have irreparably harmed and continue to irreparably harm Paradigm’s reputation in the boxing field generally, as well as with specific sponsors, investors, government officials, fans, media sources, and promoters. Because Pacquiao vested Paradigm with the exclusive right to negotiate his fights and then repeatedly pulled the rug out from underneath it, Paradigm will have no credibility in seeking to negotiate on behalf of boxers in the future. If the Pacquiao-Spence fight proceeds as planned, the injury to Paradigm will only increase.

“Additionally, as a direct result of Pacquiao’s breaches, Mikey Garcia, the only boxer on Paradigm’s roster other than Pacquiao, abruptly terminated his management agreement with Paradigm and ended their business relationship. Similarly, Paradigm’s highly promising negotiations to manage or partner with other boxers have slowed down noticeably following Pacquiao’s very public violation of Paradigm’s exclusive rights. Upon information and belief, if Pacquiao’s fight against Spence goes forward as scheduled, it will destroy this business opportunity, as well as others.”

Pacquiao attorney Dale Kinsella issued a statement, rejecting Paradigm’s accusations.

“The complaint filed by Paradigm Sports in California state court on Friday is a frivolous effort to interfere with Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming mega fight, and it can and will fail for numerous reasons,” Kinsella said. “Moreover, had Manny Pacquiao known that Paradigm Sports appears to have had no intention of fulfilling its contractual obligations, he never would have entered into any relationship with them. Should this matter actually proceed beyond Friday’s filing in a court of law, Mr. Pacquiao will vigorously defend this action, assert his own claims against Paradigm Sports, and seek to recover his attorney’s fees as well.”

Morrell blows out Cazares

David Morrell Jr. retained his secondary super middleweight belt by one-punch, first-round knockout of Mario Cazares in the main event of a highly entertaining Premier Boxing Champions card on Fox on Sunday night at The Armory in Morrell’s adopted hometown of Minneapolis.

Morrell (5-0, 4 KOs), 23, a Cuban southpaw, made his first defense with ease against Cazares (12-1, 5 KOs), 30, of Mexico, who was coming off a sixth-round technical decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in September. Morrell put Cazares away with a clean straight left hand to the chin that knocked him flat on his back for the knockout at 2 minutes, 32 seconds.

“I didn’t expect that to end so quickly,” Morrell said. “I thought it would be more like a five- or six-round fight. However, once Cazares stepped in the ring, I noticed that he was not ready to fight on my level. He wasn’t ready for this kind of test or this level of fight.

“When I saw the opening, I took him out. When I hit him, I saw his legs wobble and I knew he was gone, completely out. I’m ready for anyone at 168 pounds and now the world can see it. I would love to fight (IBF titlist and fellow PBC fighter) Caleb Plant. I’m ready to fight Plant. He’s an excellent boxer, but I’m ready to go.”

Glanton, Apochi wage war

The main event was overshadowed by an action-packed fight of the year contender in the co-feature between chiseled cruiserweights Brandon Glanton (14-0, 11 KOs), 29, of Riverside, California, and Houston-based Nigeria native Efetobor Apochi (11-1, 11 KOs), 33.

Glanton scored a sixth-round knockdown that was the difference in his winning a well-deserved upset split decision in a fantastic battle. Two judges had it 95-94 for Glanton and one had it 96-93 for Apochi.

“I knew it was a close fight because at the very end he didn’t hurt me, but I staggered,” said Glanton, who appeared hurt in the final seconds of the fight. “We always talk about balance in the gym, though. I got the split decision because balance is something that we constantly work on. He didn’t hurt me. That’s why I was able to keep fighting. “Thank God the judges saw it the right way.”

Apochi thought he did enough to win but didn’t complain too much.

“What can I say? I thought I won the fight,” Apochi said. “I used my jab, showed some heart, had some good movement in there, but I’m not the judges. I don’t know what they saw, but I thought that I did what I had to do. He’s a tough guy. I won’t take anything away from him. He took some tough shots and he was still there.”

Both said they were open to a rematch.

In the opener, southpaw junior welterweight All Rivera (22-5, 18 KOs), 28, of the Philippines upset hot prospect Omar Juarez (11-1, 5 KOs), 22, of Brownsville, Texas, by majority decision: 95-94, 95-93, 95-95. The difference was Rivera scoring a ninth-round knockdown.

In a preliminary bout that topped the FS1 portion of the card, junior middleweight gatekeeper Nathaniel Gallimore (22-5-1, 17 KOs), 33, of Chicago, upset Leon Lawson (14-1, 7 KOs), 21, of Flint, Michigan, by majority decision: 97-93, 96-94, 95-95. 

Quick hits

Junior middleweight up-and-comer Charles Conwell (15-0, 11 KOs), who had two recent bouts fall through (a Ring City USA appearance because of a hand injury and an undercard fight on the postponed Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos Triller Fight Club PPV earlier this month) notched a shutout eight-round decision over journeyman Silverio Ortiz (37-27, 18 KOs) as a late addition to a club card on Saturday in Ashland, Kentucky. Conwell, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, dropped Ortiz in the fifth round and twice in the seventh round en route to winning 80-69 on all three scorecards.

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With DAZN having made a five-year global rights deal with Matchroom Boxing, which will move its shows from Sky Sports to DAZN in the United Kingdom and Ireland, they announced on Monday their new broadcast team for the U.K. and Irish events, which kick off with a three-week run of “Fight Camp” cards at the Matchroom headquarters in Brentwood, England on July 31, Aug. 7 and Aug. 14. British broadcasting legend Mike Costello, who is leaving the BBC, will be the lead commentator. Also on the team: U.K. TV and radio broadcaster Maya Jama, former cruiserweight titlist Tony Bellew, radio host Laura Woods, former middleweight titlist Andy Lee, former middleweight titlist Darren Barker and analyst Chris Lloyd.

Show and tell

After Evander Holyfield shockingly stopped Mike Tyson in the 11th round to take his heavyweight title in November 1996 in a massive upset in their long-awaited showdown of course they would have a rematch. Hey met again seven months later and we all know what happened. Tyson, upset over what he perceived as purposeful head butts, twice bit Holyfield’s ear, including taking a chunk out of it. Referee Mills Lane disqualified Tyson in the third round of the now-infamous “Bite Fight” that occurred before a shocked and horrified record-setting pay-per-view audience. The fight took place on June 28, 1997 — 24 years ago on Monday. Here’s the site poster and program from the fight in my collection.

Pacquiao photo: Stewart Cook/Fox Sports; Morrell-Cazares, Glanton-Apochi photos: Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions