Judge John Walter issued an order granting Al Haymon’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed Golden Boy’s antitrust lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on May 5, 2015. The case was set to go to trial in March.
In his 25-page opinion filed on Thursday, Judge Walter determined that Golden Boy did not come forth with genuine issues of fact to support its claims that Haymon’s promotion, Premier Boxing Champions, foreclosed the market on boxers and other promotions among other antitrust violations. Moreover, it determined that Golden Boy’s injury “was caused by conduct that was beneficial to competition in the promotion market.”
The judge noted that Haymon’s business strategy actually helped boxing with more televised matches and better pay for fighters.
The opinion noted that the tv strategy of securing deals with multiple networks implemented by PBC did not foreclose all networks. It also pointed to the fact that Golden Boy expert’s did not provide an examination of recoupment of money of PBC’s purported strategy of “flipping” its business model from tv buys to securing license fees.
It also was not persuaded by Golden Boy’s claims of “sham” promoters that aided PBC nor the alleged “firewall” between promoters and managers. The court found no evidence that boxers were coerced into working with promoters. Moreover, the judge noted that PBC worked with other promoters. In the latter claim, the Judge wrote that there was no antitrust injury because there was no standing. Only boxers and governmental agencies may make the claim per the Ali Act.
In its conclusion, it noted that antitrust laws protect competition, not competitors.
The judge in #GoldenBoy v. Haymon concludes with a reminder that antitrust law protects competition, not competitors #boxing #sportslaw pic.twitter.com/hhEl8t8yAr
— Jason Cruz (@dilletaunt) January 27, 2017
Payout Perspective:
In reading the opinion, one might be concerned with the UFC antitrust lawsuit. The court stressed the issue that antitrust laws protect competition, not competitors. Despite the speculation that Haymon’s PBC attempted to foreclose the market on competitors, there was no evidence found by the court which conflicted with antitrust laws. The court determined that Golden Boy did not define the relevant markets and did not establish a “tie in” or “tie out” which may have been a violation of antitrust laws. Based on the opinion, it is unlikely that Golden Boy appeals this decision.
Golden Boy, et al. v. Haymon, et al. by JASONCRUZ206 on Scribd
TOPS E says
All about boxing http://www.mmamania.com/2017/1/26/14406908/andrei-arlovski-may-try-boxing-again hahaha
d says
Yeah, when he’s a has-been. Haha. He’s making more money in mma.
d says
Speaking of PBC, I’m looking forward to their official close and possible subsequent prosecution of Haymon and Caldwell. The former should be coming very soon. Haha.
Fight Fan says
D I feel like I’m in déjà vu, you’ve been saying that non stop and I still haven’t seen anything.
C says
Why is that ‘d’ guy such a hater of boxing? Just watch whatever fights are on and that’s it. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Simple. What difference does it make to you whether one sues the other or one does better than the other. They’re both here to stay, period. When I see matchups I like whether it’s mma or boxing or kick boxing or two dumbasses on World Star, I watch. If the fight is boring or the matchup sucks I either change the channel or don’t even watch it at all. They’re not making me anymore money so who cares about the business dealings.
Cutch says
Golden Boy didn’t have a chance, just like anybody saying the UFC is keeping MMA companies off TV, the UFC are only with Fox, FS1.
PBC tried locking up Fox-FS1, NBC-NBCSN, ABC-ESPN, Spike and there is still CBS, Showtime, HBO, Tru TV as well as PPV.
I guess Black Hitler won (golden boys words)
Wil says
Cutch, yeah those emails were horrible, DLH and his crew really showed their true colors. Good to see Haymon scoring the win. PBC doing well and getting fighters exposure and fight cards that are 2-6m in viewership are good for the sport. EVERY promotion wins from that. Now maybe DLH will follow Arum and make fights with Haymon…which seems to already be happening with the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr fight.
Fight Fan says
Klitcschko Joshua expecting 90k fans. Thurman Garcia in a month. Huge events
Cutch says
De La Hoya needs to get himself sorted, he got a DUI and he’s been in rehab, I wish him well as addiction can be hell but he still shouldn’t be driving under the influence.
Yes Jon Jones or whoever have done similar things but this happened recently and it’s got nothing to do with Boxing.
d says
FF, yes, I predicted it would come in 2 years and my prediction seems to be lining up very well.
That’s right though, you haven’t seen anything…..related to PBC, because they are about to close shop. Should come within the next few months.
Klitschko-Joshua/Thurman-Garcia expected US ppv buys….0! Yeah, huge events. Hahahaha!
d says
It’s also likely just a matter of time before HBO and Showtime cut boxing all together from their programming. The ratings have been god awful for a while now. Boxing is basically dead in the US. They are losing money on these fights and have already slashed their budgets dramatically from what they once were. Years ago HBO’s budget was over 100m for boxing, now it is around 20m.
Like De La Hoya said, 2016 was the worst year for boxing in its history, and it seems like there is no end in sight to their downward spiral.
TOPS E says
Imagine the stress of owing 4 billion…and no big first quarter show hahahaha
d says
C, do you take the same issue with all of the boxing turds on here who do nothing but hate on mma? I guess not, right?