A Quick Look at the Issues Raised by the Lawsuit Filed Against Junior Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley
Earlier this year, it appeared as if a ?Desert Storm? was going to wreak havoc on the junior welterweight division, as WBO/WBC Junior Welterweight Champion Timothy (Desert Storm) Bradley, 27-0 (11 KOs), began to impose his will on his division?s fellow titleholders, starting with his January 29, 2011 technical decision win over then-WBC champion Devon (The Great) Alexander. While not a scintillating performance, Bradley?s domination of Alexander was expected to lead to a more compelling unification bout with former 2004 British Olympic silver medalist and current WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Amir Khan. Khan, fresh off of his tremendous war with Marcos (El Chino) Maidana and the methodical breakdown of Paul McCloskey, was expected to give Bradley the sternest test of his professional career in a battle for three of the four major junior welterweight crowns. Another battle, however, was reportedly beginning to brew behind the scenes which pitted Bradley and his manager, Cameron Dunkin, against his soon-to-be former promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, with whom Bradley?s promotional agreement was expiring. Thus, as the negotiations for a Bradley-Khan fight languished on despite some exceptional concessions from the Khan camp, including an even split of the television money generated in Khan?s fan bases, it was widely whispered that Bradley may be looking to simply spike the ball and sit out the rest of his contract with Shaw and Thompson so that he can sign with Top Rank or another major promoter. What began was rampant speculation and rumor boiled over earlier this month into a Florida-venued lawsuit against Bradley and Dunkin in which Shaw and Thompson allege, among other claims, breach of contract and tortious interference in contractual relations in connection with their respective actions during the Khan negotiation. The inference that the lawsuit makes is that it was nothing more than bad faith and looking past their expiring promotional agreement with Shaw and Thompson that led Bradley and Dunkin to opt out of the Khan fight. But was this just a matter of Bradley behaving badly, or something less sinister? A quick look at the potential issues raised by Shaw and Thompson?s lawsuit follows.
When is it OK to Begin Speaking with Other Promoters?
If you want be a loyal soldier (and avoid lawsuits), the answer is whenever the promotional agreement says that you are allowed to, and that would be the best way to keep boxers like Bradley out of situations like the one he finds himself in now. Of course, even if Bradley exercised his contractual obligation to remain silent, the accusation is apparently that Dunkin was throwing some inappropriate lines into the water to see who might bite when Bradley became a free agent. Many times, a promotional agreement will require that a boxer?s manager sign as well, or the agreement will be signed solely by the manager with the implied authority of the boxer. Even if the manager is not expressly a party to the agreement, however, he is nonetheless an agent of the boxer, and thus his actions are presumed to be at the behest of the boxer. Thus, when a manager goes fishing for new promoters without a permit, it may be he and his boxer who ultimately end up on the hook. If Shaw and Thompson have it their way that will be exactly what happens here.
When is it Bad Faith to Reject a Particular Bout?
Almost all promotional agreements contain language granting the boxer some limited right of reasonable refusal of the bouts offered by a promoter. And most any written contract contains an express or implied duty of good faith in carrying out its terms. Together, these provisions can be read to state that there must be a good faith reason for a boxer?s reasonable refusal to take a given bout. As someone climbs higher up the ladder in their professional boxing career, it may prove more and more difficult to find a reasonable, good faith basis for rejecting any proposed bout. Bradley-Khan is an excellent example of that difficulty, given Bradley?s increasingly elite status of late.
Bradley?s agreement with Shaw and Thompson was scheduled to expire June 30, 2011, but was reportedly extended an additional three weeks, with Dunkin?s approval, to cover the Khan fight. During the course of negotiations, Khan?s camp offered Bradley, who is as good at boxing inside the ring as he is bad at generating interest in himself outside of the ring, half of the revenue generated from the television viewership of their proposed bout in Britain, where Khan is a superstar, as well as the Middle East and Africa, where Khan also has tremendous appeal. At the end of the day, Bradley, who holds two of the four major junior welterweight championships, was allegedly standing to make as much as $1.8 million, but rejected it. Both in context and out of context, many observers would view Bradley?s rejection of the Khan bout as the result of bad faith in the negotiation process, and thus an implied or express breach of his expiring promotional agreement. In context, it appears as if Bradley is simply looking to let the agreement with Shaw and Thompson lapse so he can move on a new promoter. If that new promoter would be, in fact, Top Rank, many would think that Bradley was looking to trade up for a possible shot at Manny Pacquiao. Out of context, it looks like Bradley, the man who is arguably the best boxer in his weight class, is turning down a career high purse and a chance to further unify the junior welterweight championship, despite a sizeable concession from Team Khan, for no publicly articulable reason. Neither scenario casts Bradley in a particularly good light, as Khan is the best and seemingly most lucrative option right for him now.
What if the Three Week Extension was Not in Writing?
According Dan Rafael?s report on the lawsuit, ?Shaw and Thompson claim that Dunkin agreed at a Feb. 7 meeting in Las Vegas to wait the additional three weeks for the fight with Khan to take place.? Noticeably absent from this account, and perhaps from the lawsuit itself (Standing 8 Court has not seen it), was a reference to any subsequent written confirmation of the three-week extension of the expiring promotional agreement. Nonetheless, what appears to be alleged is that the various parties involved with making Bradley-Khan relied heavily on the purported extension of the promotional agreement only to see the negotiation fall apart. Whether a successful extension was effectuated by the February 7, 2011 conversation, or any subsequent documentation confirming same, thus may ultimately prove critical to establishing any claim of reliance on Dunkin?s alleged agreement, made in Shaw and Thompson?s complaint.
A Florida court will soon begin sorting out whether Shaw and Thompson have any legally cognizable claim against Bradley and Dunkin. In the meantime, Khan did his part to continue clearing up the junior welterweight division with a fifth round knockout of IBF champion Zab (Super) Judah this past Saturday on HBO. Whatever becomes of the lawsuit, the allegations of Team Bradley behaving badly behind the scenes should serve as a cautionary tale to other top boxers and their management who are eager to be done with their current promoter and want to move on with their careers. Promoters invest a lot in their boxers; do not think for a second that they will not do their part to enforce their contracts, any extensions of their contracts, and all of their remaining rights thereunder, when these types of situations arise.
