The parties in the lawsuit involving promoter Main Events and Adonis Stevenson, Al Haymon, Golden Boy, Showtime and Stevenson’s manager have been dismissed per a letter sent to the Court on Saturday morning.
As we reported, the lawsuit filed this past May was based on alleged agreement for Main Events and their fighter Sergey Kovalev to face Adonis Stevenson what was anticipated as a big money fight on HBO. However, Stevenson signed on with consultant Al Haymon and took a fight under the Golden Boy banner. After the schism within Golden Boy, it was believed that the fighter left with Haymon.
A lawsuit was filed by Main Events claiming breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, tortious interference and interference with prospective economic advantage premised upon emails between Main Events and Stevenson’s manager. Main Events claimed that the emails constituted a contract while the defendants claimed that the emails were not a contract as other details needed to be hashed out before a contract could be signed.
As one might expect, the defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss based on their theory that the emails did not constitute a contract. The court allowed Main Events to Amend its Complaint on August 4th but decided to settle the case.
In a letter which looks to be sent on Saturday morning, August 2nd, counsel for Main Events let the court know of a settlement and sought a cursory request to extend the deadline to file an Amended Complaint in the event the settlement fell through.
As a result of the settlement, Kovalev faces Bernard Hopkins this fall which will be co-promoted by Golden Boy and Main Events.
Payout Perspective:
It appears that all is well that ends well. It’s clear that Kovalev’s promoters, Main Events, wanted to be made whole based upon the feeling of being left with nothing after Stevenson signed with Al Haymon. The Hopkins fight is a good substitute for Stevenson. Moreover, the legal claims made by Main Events were tenuous especially with the theory of a contract based upon emails. Instead of spending money on legal bills, the parties were able to negotiate an alternative.
Kovalev is going to get the big fight he wants, so all’s well that ends well. I’m also happy to see a Golden Boy fighter (and part owner) switching from Showtime to HBO. That bodes well for Golden Boy and the sport of boxing if they are able to cross networks and promotions in order to make fights.