Thursday, March 22, 2018

Judge Denies Motion To Compel Production Of Attorney Emails In Wilder Case

Earlier this month, Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein denied Defendants World of Boxing (WOB) and Alexander Povetkin's Motion to Compel production of emails from Plaintiff Deontay Wilder's attorney John Wirt.

The Court held that the emails, all dated May 25, 2016, were attorney work product and therefore privileged communications that Wilder was entitled to withhold.  The emails had been inadvertently produced to Defendants in the course of discovery, but when Defendants tried to use them as exhibits at deposition, Wilder's attorneys invoked the "claw back" provision of the protective order that the parties had agreed to.

The emails in question were either sent by Wirt, who was Wilder's representative in negotiations, or were sent in response to Wirt's email.  Wirt's original email analyzed WOB's mid-May explanation for Povetkin's positive test for Meldonium and discussed possible responses to it.  Because Wirt's email was prepared in anticipation of litigation and was discussed amongst Wilder's promoter and manager, the Court determined that these emails qualified as attorney work product and Wilder could withhold them.  Thus, Defendants' Motion to Compel production was denied.

There are dueling summary judgment motions pending filed by each party that I've covered in previous articles here and here.  The world awaits District Judge Andrew Carter's decision.

See Opinion below:

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Official Boxing Esq. World Boxing Ratings - March 2018

Presenting the March 2018 Boxing Esq. World Boxing Ratings.

Lots of activity around the world and in the top 25 of most divisions this month.  Only the Junior Middleweight ratings stayed static.

Movements:

Heavys – Andy Ruiz moved up from inactive to 13 with win over Devin Vargas.  Miljan Rovcanin moved out.

Cruisers – Kevin Lerena moves from 11 to 10 with win over Dmytro Kucher. Marco Huck moves down from 10 to 11.  Mike Perez moves from 18 to 15 with win.  Matty Askin moves from 24 to 22 with win.

Light Heavys - Dmitriy Bivol moves from 10 to 4 with impressive win over Sullivan Barrera.  Barrera moves down to 5.  Edwin Rodriguez moves up from 16 to 14 with win over tough Lionel Thompson.  Humberto Velazco Torres enters at 20 with KO of Thomas Williams.  Williams drops from 14 to out with his third consecutive loss.  Isaac Chilemba moves up from inactive to 21 with win over Blake Capparello.  Frank Buglioni drops from 25 to out.

Super Middles - Jose Uzcategui moves up from 7 to 3 with TKO over Andre Dirrell.  Dirrell drops from 4 to 11.  Chris Eubank drops from 3 to 9 after bad form loss to George Groves.  Juergen Braehmer drops from 8 to 10 for once again ducking out of a big fight.  Caleb Plant moves up to 25 with win over tough Porky Medina.  Renold Quinlan drops out.

Middles - Andy Lee drops from 10 to out due to retirement announcement.  Sam Soliman drops from 16 to 22 due to controversial draw with Wes Kapper.  Tommy Langford enters at 20 with impressive win over Jack Arnfield.  Arnfield drops from 22 to 25.

Jr. Middles - NO CHANGES.

Welters – Yordonis Ugas moves from 17 to 14 with impressive stoppage of Ray Robinson.  Robinson drops from 25 to out.  Brandon Rios drops from 20 to 23 after highlight reel KO loss to Danny Garcia.  Kudratillo Abdukakhorov moves from 23 to 22 with win over Laszlo Toth.  Carlos Adames enters at 25.

Jr. Welters – Regis Prograis moves from 14 to 3 with impressive blowout of former unified champ Julius Indongo.  Indongo moves down from 3 to 12 after second consecutive blowout loss.  Rances Barthelemy drops from 4 to 10 with near shutout loss to Kiryl Relikh.  Relikh enters at 6.  Juan Carlos Ramirez moves up from 15 to 5 with impressive win over Amir Imam.  Imam drops from 21 to 24.  Sergey Lipinets moves from 10 to 9 after impressive showing in loss Mikey Garcia.  Ivan Baranchyk entered at 22 with win over tough Petr Petrov.  Steve Claggett drops from 23 to out after loss to Danny O'Connor.  Yves Ulysse, Jr. drops from 25 to out.

Lights – Bryan Vasquez moves from 12 to out due to switching divisions.  Felix Verdejo drops from 14 to out after upset loss to Antonio Lozada, Jr.  Lozada enters at 21.  Peter Petrov drops from 15 to 18 after short-notice loss at 140 to Baranchyk.  Lewis Ritson enters at 25.

Jr. Lights - Bryan Vasquez enters at 15 with win over Miguel Angel Gonzalez for regional 130 belt.  Martin Joseph Ward enters at 25.  Jonathan Oquendo and Evgeny Chuprakov, 24 and 25 respectively, drop out.

Feathers - Oscar Valdez moves up from 5 to 4 with gritty win over Scott Quigg.  Quigg drops from 7 to 9 for missing weight and still losing.  Jesus Cuellar drops from 8 to Inactive due to inactivity.  Cuellar is scheduled to face Gervonta Davis at 130 for a belt soon.  Takenori Ohashi enters at 19 with win over Kosuke Saka.  Saka drops from 20 to out.  Matias Carlos Adrian Rueda enters at 25.

Jr. Feathers – Hidenori Otake moves up from 18 to 16 for defense of OPBF belt.  Gavin McDonnell moves up from 23 to 19 for impressive win over unbeaten Gamal Yafai.  Azat Hovannisyan enters at 22 after impressive stoppage win over Ronny Rios.  Rios drops from 21 to out.

Bantams – Shinkue Yamanaka drops from 2 to out due to retirement.  Naoya Inoue enters at 5 due to scheduled fight with Jamie McDonnell.  Jason Maloney enters at 25.  (I erroneously had Jamie McDonnell in two spots last month - thus added Maloney to fill out top 25.)

Super Flys - Naoya Inoue moves from 2 to out as he's moved up in weight.  Juan Francisco Estrada moves from 4 to 2 based on strong performance in loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.  McWilliams Arroyo moves from Inactive to 7 after impressive win over Carlos Cuadras.  Cuadras drops from 5 to 8.  Andrew Maloney moves up to 18 from 25 with impressive win over Rene Dacquel.  Dacquel drops from 24 to out.  Jose Martinez enters at 25.

Flys – Artem Dalakian moves up from 17 to 3 with impressive win over Brian Villoria.  Villoria drops from 5 to 8.  Juan Carlos Reveco drops from 3 to 7 after one-sided loss to Donnie Nietes.  

Jr. Flys – Saul Juarez enters at 15 with win over Gilberto Parra Medina.  (Funky Cold) Medina drops from 18 to 24.  Alexis Diaz drops from 25 to out.

Straws – Saul Juarez drops from 17 to out as he moved up in weight.  Julio Mendoza enters at 25.


Sunday, March 18, 2018

Boxing Podcast With MMA Writer John Nash

This week, my guest on the podcast is John Nash, writer for Bloody Elbow.  John writes primarily about MMA and also does an excellent podcast with Paul Gift and Jason Cruz called Show Money which covers the business side of MMA.

We spoke about the fighters antitrust lawsuit against the UFC, the bill in Congress to extend the Ali Act to MMA, the movement to organize MMA fighters into a union or association and what the sport of boxing can learn from what's going on in MMA.  It was an excellent discussion - enjoy!

To check out John's writing go to www.bloodyelbow.com.  You can catch John's Show Money podcast on iTunes and you can hit John up on Twitter at @heynottheface.

Enjoy the podcast.  You can listen to it on Soundcloud or subscribe to the podcast on either iTunes or Stitcher.  Please leave a comment or a rating, I would much appreciate it.



Great Show At The Hammerstein Tomorrow

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