PARADIGM Sports Management chief Audie Attar has thrown a monkey wrench on the world welterweight title fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, suing the Filipino boxing icon for breach of contract and seeking an injunction to stop the match from happening.
Veteran sportswriter Lance Pugmire reported in The Athletic yesterday (Saturday in the US) that Attar was “seeking to recoup a $3.3 million (roughly P160.1 million) advance and seeking an injunction to stop Pacquiao’s welterweight title fight” with the unbeaten American champion.
Spence is set to stake his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council welterweight belts against the fighting Filipino lawmaker in what promises to be a box-office hit on Aug. 21 at the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Attar, who also manages Irish mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor, filed the case in Orange County, California, claiming that he was in the process of negotiating, on behalf of Pacquiao, a fight with former four-division world champion Mikey Garcia when Spence entered the picture.
In a copy of the suit obtained by Pugmire, the Paradigm Sports Management head claimed that MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbon and former sports scribe Winchell Campos “veered Pacquiao back to powerful boxing manager Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
“And he (Pacquiao) signed to fight unbeaten WBC/IBF champion Spence in a pay-per-view bout to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.”
Paradigm legal counsel Judd Burstein, who filed the case, stressed that “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.”
With Pacquiao training in his hometown of Gen. Santos City for the Spence fight, the report said Gibbons has yet to react to The Athletic’s inquiries about the lawsuit yesterday.
But Dale Kinsella, Pacquiao’s American legal counsel, issued a statement on the controversy.
“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,” Kinsella added.
“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,” he said.
“Pacquiao and Paradigm partnered in February 2020, according to the claim, and originally pursued a four-fight deal with DAZN that would start with a bout against Garcia as part of a two-fight appearance in Saudi Arabia,” the suit said.
The complaint alleged “Gibbons and others interfered with and compromised that deal.”
When Pacquiao announced last May that he was fighting Spence, the suit alleged that his announcement came just hours “after Paradigm believed Pacquiao would sign to fight Mikey Garcia, resulting in Garcia ending his brief union with Paradigm, as well.”
“Pacquiao’s breaches of the agreement therefore entitle Paradigm to monetary damages (and) costs associated with this proceeding, including but not limited to attorneys’ fees and … injunctive relief,” Burstein wrote.
