Audie Attar, the combat sports agent for Conor McGregor, has filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against Manny Pacquiao for breach of contract. Attar’s sports agency claims that Pacquiao breached his contract with them and is seeking recovery a $3 million advance to the 42-year-old.
The lawsuit, according to The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire, will also seek an injunction to prevent Pacquiao’s fight with Errol Spence this August.
Although the lawsuit is not available online to the public, Pugmire’s detailed writeup states that Pacquiao and Paradigm had agreed on a fight with Mikey Garcia when the fighter changed his mind an announced the fight with Spence.
The attorney for Attar, Judd Burstein, was involved in the Deontay Wilder-Alexander Povetkin legal drama. As indicated by Pugmire, Attar may push for disclosure of payouts for the Spence fight which may impact Manny with respect to potential U.S. tax obligations.
One industry expert tells me the wrinkle to watch in this case is if Paradigm's attorneys gather discovery proving what @MannyPacquiao earnings are for Spence before the Spence fight date. Given Manny's U.S. tax debt, this could imperil the fight, the person said.
— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) June 27, 2021
You may recall that Pacquiao signed on with Paradigm Sports in February 2020. Paradigm attempted to broker a deal with DAZN with two fights in the middle east starting with Mikey Garcia. The inference was that down the road a boxing match would be set up with McGregor. Pacquiao confidants wanted him to return with PBC and Al Haymon.
Payout Perspective:
Its hard to fathom that an injunction would unravel the fight between Spence and Pacquiao but it could depending on the ruling of a judge. This lawsuit will be hotly contested as Burstein is known as an aggressive litigator. The Pacquiao-Paradigm relationship seemed doomed from the get-go as Pacquiao is known to have managerial infighting and uncertainty. MPO will continue to follow.
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