By Edgar Gonzalez
By Christopher Norton of Law360, recently reported — The former welterweight champion boxer Ricardo Mayorga has socked sports promotion and management firms owned by Don King and son Carl King with a suit, alleging the companies have held Mayorga hostage to an unenforceable promotional agreement in violation of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday, claims Don King Productions Inc., Carl King and his company Monarch Sports Management Inc. created a conflict of interest through DKP’s assignment of Carl King and MSM to be Mayorga’s managers in violation of the act, which requires a firewall between managers and promoters.
DKP took advantage of Mayorga’s lack of education and representation by an attorney loyal to DKP, forcing him to sign several disadvantageous agreements, the complaint says. DKP has failed to meet the most basic conditions of the current promotional agreement to make a bona fide offer to participate in three fights per year, the complaint says.
The promotional agreement in suit is the third such contract Mayorga and DKP have entered into, none of which have ever given Mayorga the number of matches he is entitled to, attorney for Mayorga Chad Purdie said Wednesday.
“Don King has one obligation only, and that’s to provide three boxing matches a year,” Purdie said. “And he didn’t even do that.”
As a result, Mayorga has been left destitute by the “gross breach of trust” committed by the very people that were supposed to look after his interests, and seeks to “be free from the shackles of an unscrupulous team of swindlers,” the complaint says.
“He’s not allowed to contract with anyone else because they’re afraid of tortious interference, they’re afraid of Don King,” Purdie said. “Even if it wasn’t the big bad Don King, they would be forcing Mr. Mayorga to break his contract.”
King told Law360 on Wednesday, “I love Ricardo Mayorga, but you have to understand this is how he is.”
The Nicaraguan-born Mayorga, who has been known to appear at post-fight conferences with a cigarette and a beer in hand, was the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council welterweight champion from 2002 to 2003 and was later the junior middleweight champion.
During his amateur years he won the Nicaraguan National Championship and was the Central American Golden Gloves champion, according to the complaint.
Mayorga and DKP entered into the current promotional agreement in June 2008 for a term of three years, under which DKP was required to offer Mayorga the right to participate in at least three fights per year, the complaint says. DKP has only offered one fight to Mayorga since the start of the agreement, according to the complaint.
The purse for the first bout under the contract was set at a minimum of $400,000, while any future purses would be set at a minimum of $50,000 if Mayorga lost the first bout or any subsequent bouts, the complaint says.
No one explained to Mayorga any of the remedies he was relinquishing, the notice to cure provision or the ad hoc limitations period under the contract, nor did they state what he would be earning per bout if he lost the first fight, the complaint says.
Mayorga is seeking damages plus interest, costs and attorneys’ fees, according to the complaint.
Mayorga is represented by Diaz Reus LLP.
Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available.
The case is Mayorga v. Don King Productions Inc. et al., case number 1:09-cv-22603, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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