The only somewhat surprising thing about the Golden Boy-Ryan Garcia business relationship ending up in court was that Golden Boy filed the lawsuit first.
And if launching a preemptive lawsuit turns out to be a tactical mistake, it’ll totally be in character for the Oscar De La Hoya-founded promotional company that doesn’t seem all that great at legal stuff.
Back in 2017, the judge nearly tore his rotator cuff throwing out Golden Boy’s antitrust lawsuit against Al Haymon and Haymon Boxing. In 2020, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez wiped the floor with the Golden Boy legal team and got out of a supposedly binding contract.
In the Canelo case, the source of the dispute (and what turned out to eventually be his opening for nullifying the contract) was the three-way relationship between him, Golden Boy, and Golden Boy’s broadcast partner DAZN. Ultimately, it was ruled that Alvarez, who was under contract with Golden Boy, but had no direct deal with DAZN, was misled as to promises and deals made through Golden Boy with the streaming service.
Golden Boy may have fallen into that same hole with Garcia.
According to Garcia’s legal team, via demand letter issued to Golden Boy and conveniently shared with ESPN, the 24-year-old’s deal with the promotional company has no provision for exclusivity with DAZN and it offers him the flexibility to take pay-per-view fights on any network.
Despite that, DAZN had to be paid a $1.25 million “step-aside” fee for “allowing” Garcia to fight Gervonta “Tank” Davis on an April 22 Showtime PPV event that they were also allowed to broadcast and sell through their service. According to Team Garcia, $120,000 of that “step-aside” money was personally paid by Garcia.
A fighter being forced to pay off a network-- with which he has no direct deal-- certainly sounds like a violation of something.
In addition, Garcia’s people accused Golden Boy of violating terms of the Ali Act and of attempting to withhold bonuses. They also argue that the nondisparagement provision of his contract with Golden Boy was violated.
Actually, the filing of the lawsuit against Garcia and his attorney/adviser Guadalupe Valencia this past Friday in U.S. District Court of Nevada, in and of itself, could possibly be considered a violation of that nondisparagement provision. And if forgoing the contractually mandated (and requested) mediation process for disputes in order to file a lawsuit and then seed details of that lawsuit to media isn’t “disparagement,” De La Hoya’s own Tweets would certainly make Team Garcia’s case.
Earlier this month, De La Hoya responded to a video shown of Garcia lamenting his lack of support post-Davis loss with some nasty Tweets. The former six-division champ blasted Garcia for “still crying” about De La Hoya and Golden Boy partner Bernard Hopkins no-showing the post-fight presser. He also remarked that the young fighter needed to “man up” when it comes to accepting that Garcia and his adviser, Valencia, due to their decision to accept a rehydration clause for the fight, were entirely to blame for the loss.
Golden Boy asserts that their promotional deal with Garcia is valid and binding. They reportedly signed Garcia to a five-year contract extension back in 2019 with, supposedly, two years to go on his existing contract. By that measure, Garcia would be bound to Golden Boy until 2026.
Garcia’s team had countered with the fact that California law (under which Garcia operates as a resident of California) prevents a promotional deal from extending beyond 5 years. In their lawsuit, however, Golden Boy is seeking to have the case adjudicated as a Nevada-bound deal under Nevada law, which has no limit when it comes to the length of promotional contracts.
And, wait, now that I’m thinking about it-- how is it even possible for Golden Boy to sue to uphold a contract that hasn’t even been legally contested yet?
Hmmm...
But, anyway, where will all this go?
You don’t see too many cases where a high-profile freedom-minded boxer with the money to hire a quality legal team is forced to stay with a promoter. There’s a reason for that. Details in many boxing promotional contracts tend to fall into the nebulously legal category. In many cases, things are done outside the scope of the written contract that conflict with existing regulation.
These free and loose dealings usually work to the benefit of the promoter...until a fighter comes along with the money and the resolve to put up a legal fight. That’s why, more often than not, high-profile boxing lawsuits between fighter and promoter tend to end in a settlement. A prolonged legal battle makes no sense for either party. The fighter loses valuable career time as he battles for his independence. The promoter loses time and money as well, as he fights to keep a fighter who, even if he’s forced back into the fold, will likely be a toxic presence.
There’s also the reality that some very unsavory revelations could come from the legal discovery process. In Golden Boy’s/De La Hoya’s case, one never knows what nastiness could be kicked up. In their antitrust lawsuit against Haymon, for example, racist emails between a Golden Boy exec and a boxing writer were unearthed, along with some extremely unflattering financials.
For a promoter engaged in these kinds of legal disputes, it’s often best to give the appearance of putting up a fight while quietly positioning themselves for a loss.
Well, actually, the best strategy would be to not be a dick to your fighters in the first place. Being honest, forthcoming, professional, compassionate, and responsible would prevent the vast majority of these disputes.
But then, of course, that’s a hard strategy to adhere to when your company figurehead runs on pure impulse and insists on crashing your cart into the side of the road every time he gets in a mood.
Losing Ryan Garcia, who is already a bankable star with a significant up side, just as the dust has settled from losing cash cow Canelo Alvarez, is a big deal. Losing both because of the same shortsighted, somewhat shady (IMO) approach to doing business with their broadcast partner is borderline ridiculous.
And Golden Boy’s bad business deals are made all the worse by Oscar De La Hoya who, for being a winner at life (who reminds us of that constantly), can’t stop sabotaging himself and collecting L’s.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com