Middendorf Sports Files Second Amended Complaint vs.Top Rank and Bud Crawford

On September 1, 2017, attorneys for Middendorf Sports, the corporate entity for matchmaker/advisor/promoter Chris Middendorf, filed a second amended complaint ("SAC") in their ongoing breach of contract suit against Top Rank and undisputed Junior Welterweight Champion Terence "Bud" Crawford in United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Case No. 8:17-cv-00011.

(An earlier report on the SAC by ESPN made it seem as if Middendorf Sports had just recently filed this suit, when, in fact, the original complaint in this case was filed on January 10, 2017.)

Sometime in the mid-to-late aughts, Middendorf, along with Chet Koerner, formed a promotional company, TKO Boxing Promotions. According to the SAC, in December 2010, TKO signed Crawford to a promotional deal. By mid-2011, TKO had fallen on tough times and worked out an Agreement and Release ("A&R") to have Top Rank promote Crawford. In the fee provision paragraph of the A&R, Top Rank was to pay TKO a fee equal to 8% of Crawford's purses for any world championship title defenses promoted by Top Rank pursuant to the Promotional Rights Agreement between Top Rank and Crawford.

In July 2011, TKO assigned its rights under the A&R to Middendorf Sports. In September 2014, Top Rank and Crawford entered into a Restated Promotional Rights Agreement to promote Crawford for the next 3 years with options to extend for another 3 years.

The SAC alleges that Top Rank paid Middendorf Sports without fail pursuant to the A&R through July 23, 2016 - including title defenses by Crawford against Yuriorkis Gamboa on June 28, 2014, Ray Beltran on November 29, 2014, Dierry John on October 24, 2015 and Hank Lundy on February 27, 2016.

On July 23, 2016, Crawford, then the WBO champion, unified the titles against then WBC champ Viktor Postal. The SAC alleges Crawford was paid $1.3 million for the fight but Top Rank failed to pay Middendorf Sports its fee under the A&R. Similarly, the SAC alleges Top Rank has refused to pay Middendorf Sports for subsequent defenses by Crawford against: John Molina, for which he was paid $1.5 million; Felix Diaz, for which he was paid $1.6 million; and Julius Indongo, for which he was paid over $2 million.

The SAC alleges causes of action for: 1) Breach of Contract; 2) Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; 3) Accounting; and 4) Declaratory Judgment.

The SAC does make clear in a footnote that Crawford is only named as a nominal defendant and Middendorf Sports does not allege that he did anything wrong or actionable.

See the entire filed SAC, including exhibits, below:

Multi-District Litigation In Re: Mayweather-Pacquiao PPV Dismissed

On August 25, 2017, in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Judge R. Gary Klausner issued an opinion dismissing all of the claims filed in 26 individual actions and 15 consolidated complaints alleging that Defendants Floyd Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions, LLC, Manny Pacquiao, Top Rank, Inc., Michael Koncz, Bob Arum, Todd DuBeouf and HBO all concealed Pacquiao's shoulder injury and mislead the buying public into paying for the fight that they would not have otherwise purchased.

Judge Klausner ruled that letting these claims stand would "disrupt the nature and integrity of competitive sports."   Judge Klausner used the doctrine known as the "license approach" in determining the legal rights of the ticket purchasers.  Under this doctrine, "a ticket to a sporting event gives the purchaser 'nothing more than a revocable license' to view what transpires at the ticketed event, regardless of prior promises or representations about the performance."

Judge Klausner held that "a misrepresentation or omission implicates the core of athletic competitions, and therefore does not constitute a cognizable injury to a legally protected interest under the license approach, if it is related to: (A) competitive strategy, or (B) the quality or outcome of competitive performance." Judge Klausner then reasoned that all of the alleged misrepresentations of the Defendants in regards to Pacquiao's injury fell under either competitive strategy or the quality of the performance.

"The Court is sympathetic to the fact that many boxing fans felt deceived by the statements and omissions made by the fight's participants and promoter.  The proper remedy for such unscrupulous behavior when it implicates the core of athletic competition, however, is not a legal one.  Disappointed fans may demand that fighters be more transparent in the future, lobby their state athletic commissions to impose more stringent pre-fight medical screenings and disclosure requirements, or even stop watching boxing altogether. They may not, however, sustain a class-action lawsuit."

"In this case, Plaintiffs ultimately received what they paid for, namely: the right to view a boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, sanctioned and regulated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Plaintiffs had no legally protected interest or right to see an exciting fight, a fight between two totally healthy and fully prepared boxers, or a fight that lived up to the significant pre-fight hype."

See Judge Klausner's opinion below:

NY State Settles Mago Case for $22 Million

Yesterday, both ESPN and BoxingTalk reported that the family of heavyweight boxer Magomed Abdusalamov ("Mago") has agreed to settle its personal injury suit against the State of New York and certain officials of the New York State Athletic Commission ("Commission") for the sum of $22 million.  The settlement encompasses claims made against the state of New York in Thomas v. New York, Case No. 126865 in the New York State Court of Claims, as well as claims against the Commission's Chief Medical Officer Barry Jordan and an inspector (and former boxer) Matthew Farrago in Thomas v. Farrago, Case No. 505880/2014, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Kings.

Mago was injured in his bout with Mike Perez at Madison Square Garden on November 2, 2013. Mago appeared to take a hard forearm to the face in the first round and visibly complained to his corner.  Mago fought on and went the full ten rounds with Perez in what was a very spirited and competitive bout.  After being examined by Commission doctors in his dressing room, Mago was allowed to leave the arena on his own and soon after started vomiting.  He was taken to the hospital in a taxi by his handlers where he was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma.  He was then operated on to relieve the pressure on his brain and placed in an induced coma.

According to the ESPN report, Mago, 36, is still unable to walk and is paralyzed on the right side of his body.  His speech is also severely impaired and his doctors have stated he may never walk again.

The complaint filed in the Supreme Court, County of Kings, named Farrago, Jordan, as well as ringside doctors Anthony Curreri, M.D., Osric King, M.D., Avery Browne, D.O., Gerard Varlotta, D.O., referee Benji Esteves, Jr., promoter K2 Promotions, LLC and the venue MSG Holdings, L.P., as defendants.  All but Curreri, King, Varlotta and Esteves have now been dismissed from the case.

On June 29, 2017, Mago's attorneys filed a note of issue in the Supreme Court that they are ready for trial. Their most recent filing was a good faith demand letter to the attorneys of defendant doctors Curreri, King and Varlotta that they settle for the limits of their insurance coverage, which would net an additional $6.2 million for Mago.

Odds and Ends Post-Mayweather vs. McGregor

• Erik Magraken, at the excellent Combat Sports Law blog, made an interesting find on Floyd Mayweather's pre-fight medical questionnaire. Floyd apparently admitted using injections of Kenalog (an anti-inflammatory) in his hands at 5 a.m. on the day of the fight.  Magraken noted that although Kenalog is a banned in-competition substance according to WADA's prohibited list - the WADA (and USADA, the testing entity) definition of "in-competition" only prohibits ingestion within 12 hours of competition.  Thus, with the fight happening around 9 p.m. PST, Floyd was within the rules to have the injection (depending on how the injection was administered - read the post).

• Zach Arnold, at another great MMA site Fight Opinion, believes that "it is blatantly clear that Conor McGregor will continue fighting in both boxing and MMA."  Arnold also reported that Dana White was "non-committal" about whether WME-IMG may be willing to give McGregor a percentage interest in the UFC in order to keep him in the fold.  Arnold also quoted MMA legend Randy Couture as saying that this fight highlighted the financial issues MMA fighters face vis-a-vis boxing. Couture predicted that more MMA fighters will crossover to boxing in order to reap the sponsorship and PPV upside opportunities that are currently not present in the UFC.

• Though Dana White was initially spewing about the number of PPV buys being above 6.5 million, according to ESPN, it appears the more realistic number is likely to land between 4 and 5 million buys.  Thus, it may not even break the previous PPV buy record set by Mayweather-Pacquiao at 4.6 million buys.