Representatives from Don King Promotions announced yesterday that they were filing an injunction against Ricardo Mayorga and Shine Fights to stop his upcoming fight for the promotion from going ahead.
The former boxer is scheduled to take on former UFC lightweight Din Thomas this Saturday at Shine Fights 3: Worlds Collide.
The contract King has with Mayorga is for representation for anything related to boxing. Since MMA technically involves aspects of boxing, King claims that his contract with the fighter extends to this as well and that he is therefore breaking his contract.
Mayorga claimed when he accepted the fight with Thomas that he was not boxing anymore because King refused to fulfill his side of the contract. He was far from an angel himself during his boxing days, reportedly backing out of fights at the last minute and demanding more money. However give that, it isn’t clear just why King is even getting involved.
If King won’t find Mayorga any opponents and Mayorga won’t fight for him, there doesn’t seem to be much to gain for either party in a lawsuit. At 36 it isn’t as if Mayorga is going to continue to fight for that long anyway, in either discipline, and his purse money from Shine is likely not worth King’s time to try to get a piece of.
Wanting to get to the better take of the legal side of the issue, I contacted Justin Klein, AKA The Fight Lawyer, this is what he had to say:
King looking to reign in Mayorga’s MMA aspirations (AP Photo) Although I have not seen the complaint or the papers, based on accounts of the complaint that I have seen, bottom line, I don’t think much of the prospects of DKP getting an injunction, i.e. preventing the fight from happening, because I don’t think DKP can satisfy the necessary elements to get an injunction. In this regard, based on my quick read of the contract, I think it is fairly clear that the promotion contract at issue is exclusive only to “professional boxing bouts” that require Mayorga’s “services as a professional boxer” and not any other type of combative sport bout like MMA.
Specifically, and if you need more analysis, first, DKP will not be able to demonstrate irreparable harm (without an injunction) as DKP waited all this time to seek the injunction — the fight has been scheduled since I believe December — and this cuts against any irreparable harm argument that DKP might have otherwise had. While DKP could argue that the potential that Mayorga could get injured rises to irreparable harm, if it was really concerned it should have moved for an injunction months ago–not days before the fight. Although there is an EQUITABLE RELIEF section of the contract that provides that any breach or threatened breach automatically arises to irreparable harm, as discussed below I don’t think DKP will be able to establish a likelihood of success on the merits of its claims for breach of the contract and tortious interference with contract so it is a moot point.
Will Shine’s first event go off without a hitch? (AP Photo)
Second, DKP has an adequate remedy at law as it can seek damages against Mayorga under the promotion contract for any alleged breach and it can seek damages against Shine for the alleged tort committed by Shine of tortious interference with contract. Thus, even if the fight goes on, DKP is not left without a remedy and this also cuts against DKP. Third, and I think most importantly, based on my quick review of the contract I don’t think DKP can demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits because the promotion contract is exclusive to “professional boxing bouts.”
To the extent that DKP is relying on a provision that provides that “Fighter agrees that he will not . . . attend or participate in any shows, interviews, programs, special events or other activities produced, published, broadcast, sponsored or hosted by or held in or otherwise affiliated with any newspaper, magazine, book, Internet or other publisher,” I don’t think this argument hold up because this language does not mention any “bouts” which is clearly the operative term used in the agreement to describe a fight. To the extent that there is an ambiguity — I don’t think there is, it is apparent from reading the agreement that this language is dealing with media appearances and, in fact, it even appears under the ATTIRE/CLEARANCES heading. Finally, this provision contains a liquidated damage clause, i.e. a clause that provides that for any breach by Mayorga it would be difficult to quantify damages so it sets the amount of damages at a predetermined amount, $15,000. Thus, even if DKP was right that Mayorga was in breach by competing in MMA — I don’t think he is — all DKP would be entitled to is money damages and the predetermined amount and not an injunction.
For more of The Fight Lawyer’s thoughts, further analysis of this case and classification of the terms check out his site: FightLawyer
So from the sounds of things, the fight will probably go ahead and King will struggle to stop it. The question will then become whether he will sue after the fact.
Dustin Gardner, Pittsburgh: “Don King used to be the biggest promoter in the world and now he’s trying to stop an old washed up fighter from taking up MMA. This shows how far he’s fallen”
Cecil Burton, Pittsburgh: “Mayorga said he will quit if he loses anyway, and chances are he is going to lose. Is King really going to file all this stuff for the sake of a single fight?”
