Pacquiao, Mayweather face lawsuits

Photographers and writers pose Manny Pacquiao inside his home in Hollywood, CA during an interview on Tuesday, 5 May 2015. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA/INQUIRER/See more at FRAME

LOS ANGELES—Call it the fallout of the century.

Others describe it as the “Dud of the Century.”

At least five class-action suits have been filed across the United States, seeking millions of dollars in compensation on behalf of those who bought tickets for the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., forked out pay-per-view fees or bet on the fight.

Mayweather earned an emphatic, unanimous 12-round decision over Pacquiao in the feverishly anticipated bout that will go down as the richest in boxing history and by critics as one of the most overhyped.

The complainants are suing Pacquiao and others for failing to disclose a shoulder injury the Filipino ring icon suffered prior to his “Fight of the Century” against Mayweather.

The lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Illinois not only names Pacquiao and promoters of Top Rank but also telecasters of HBO and Showtime, who combined to produce the pay-per-view fight program that was sold in the United States for about $100.

The suit also names Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions and cable television providers AT&T, Comcast and DirecTV, and accuses the defendants of deceptive practices in marketing and advertising the bout.

Misrepresented

“Defendants, individually and collectively, deceptively and fraudulently promoted, produced and sold the fight as one between two healthy fighters … expressly misrepresenting the health of Manny Pacquiao to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, all in an effort to maximize and collect pay-per-view revenue,” the lawsuit claims.

Pacquiao revealed after the fight that he had been held back by a shoulder complaint.

It did not take long for the lawsuits to come flooding in.

‘Dud of the Century’

Two men in Nevada sued on Tuesday, saying the promotion violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

In a similar suit filed in California, plaintiff Howard B. Sirota cites former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson as calling the long-anticipated bout the “Dud of the Century.”

Some of the lawsuits point to the prefight medical questionnaire signed by Pacquiao for Nevada boxing authorities in which he checked “no” to the question, “Have you had any injury to your shoulders, elbows or hands that needed evaluation or examination?”

Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz, named as a defendant in some of the lawsuits, has said he inadvertently ticked the wrong box.

Biggest fight ever

Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Pacquiao and Top Rank promotions, told The Los Angeles Times he was confident the lawsuit would be dismissed.

“It claims Pacquiao was injured (immediately) before the bout and that’s not true … he was injured (nearly a month) before the bout,” Petrocelli said.

The bout was expected to be the top-grossing prizefight of all time.

Mayweather walked out of MGM Grand Garden Arena with a check for $100 million—just the first installment of a payday that could reach $200 million when all the pay-per-view sales, ticket sales, closed circuit TV viewings and other revenue are totted up and shared out.

Pacquiao is expected to receive more than $100 million.

The complainants said they felt defrauded by Pacquiao’s failure to disclose his shoulder injury.

The lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California, Illinois, Nevada and Texas.

The lawsuits seek compensation under laws meant to protect consumers and ask for status as class actions on behalf of ticket buyers, pay-per-view TV viewers and people who gambled on the fight.

“The lawsuits are factually wrong and legally wrong, and we expect they will be dismissed in due course,” Petrocelli said in a statement on Wednesday.

One of the lawsuits named as defendants several businesses involved in broadcasting and promoting the fight: Time Warner unit Home Box Office Inc., CBS Corp. unit Showtime Networks Inc., AT&T, Comcast Corp. and DirecTV.

Old injury

Spokespeople for Mayweather and the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Barely one hour after the contest ended, Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, said the 36-year-old southpaw had been hampered by an “old” injury to his right shoulder.

Neither Pacquiao nor his team appeared to have informed the Nevada commission about the shoulder issue until a couple of hours before the start of the fight when they asked for an anti-inflammatory injection.

$300M suit for monopoly

Oscar De La Hoya’s boxing promotion company is suing Floyd Mayweather’s manager and investors for $300 million, alleging they’re trying to illegally monopolize US championship fighting.

Golden Boy Promotions filed the federal antitrust and unfair competition suit on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

It names Al Haymon, his companies, and the venture capital firm Waddell & Reed Financial.

The suit alleges Haymon, who represents more than 150 fighters, violates the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act and also California and Nevada state laws by acting as both manager and promoter.

Disciplinary action

While Haymon doesn’t call himself a promoter, the suit claims he has forbidden his boxers to sign with other promoters and both arranged and paid for sponsors, arenas and TV airtime for championship matches—and even paid the purses.

Messages left at Waddell & Reed and Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions weren’t immediately returned.

The suits come as Nevada boxing regulators are looking into possible disciplinary action against Pacquiao for failing to disclose the injury suffered in training for the fight.

Rematch

“Our job is to protect the health and safety of fighters and the integrity of the sport,” Nevada State Athletic Commission chair Francisco Aguilar said. “We expect our fighters to be forthright.”

Pacquiao said he reinjured the shoulder in the fourth round when he landed his best punches of the night against Mayweather.

Mayweather said in a text to ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith that he would welcome a rematch with Pacquiao.

“I will fight him in a year after his surgery,” the text read.

Different kind of suit

Mayweather is facing another lawsuit, but of a different kind.

Earlier, his ex-girlfriend filed a defamation suit against him, claiming he lied in an interview about her being intoxicated with drugs during a domestic abuse incident in 2010.

Josie Harris, mother of Mayweather’s three children, is asking for $20 million in damages after Mayweather claimed that she was on drugs and that he was just trying to restrain her during an altercation, according to a CNN report.

Mayweather was arrested in 2010 after authorities said he punched Harris in her Las Vegas home. He pleaded guilty and served two months of a three-month jail term.–Wire reports and Bong Lozada, Inquirer.net

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