Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has described as “frivolous” a lawsuit filed against him by Conor McGregor’s management company, Paradigm Sports. The 42-year-old fighting senator signed with Paradigm in February 2020, with a mega-money boxing bout against the former two-weight UFC champion seemingly in the works. But McGregor’s manager Audie Attar filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against eight-division boxing world champion Pacquiao last weekend, according to ESPN, which obtained a copy of the complaint. The lawsuit claims Pacquiao had breached his contract after agreeing to fight American Errol Spence Jnr for the WBC and IBF welterweight titles.
“Paradigm Sports’ lawsuit against me has no merit,” Pacquiao said in a statement on Monday. “Sadly, this frivolous lawsuit intends to distract my preparations for a historic fight.
“But it does not bother me a bit. My lawyers are on top of this lawsuit and are ready to file counter charges against Paradigm Sports,” he added.
The Spence bout is set for August 21 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but the lawsuit asserts Paradigm had the exclusive rights to negotiate Pacquiao’s next two fights, and seeks an injunction to prevent the fight from happening. Paradigm founder and CEO Attar had negotiated a US$25 million purse for Pacquiao to meet four-division champion Mikey Garcia on May 15 in Dubai, with the lawsuit claiming the Spence fight was arranged by associates of the Filipino behind the company’s back.
Per the complaint, Pacquiao had asked for a US$5 million guarantee even if he did not compete against Garcia, which saw the deal fall apart, and has also refused to return a US$3.3 million contractual advance from signing with Paradigm.
“Pacquiao knew full well that Paradigm had exclusive rights to schedule his next two immediate fights,” Paradigm lawyer Judd Burstein wrote in the complaint. “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.” Pacquiao’s lawyer Dale Kinsella hit back in a statement, saying the lawsuit will fail.
“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 said. “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.” Pacquiao last fought in a split decision victory over American Keith Thurman, to claim the WBA (Super) welterweight championship, becoming the oldest welterweight to win a major world title at the age of 40.
