On Monday, Ryan Garcia filed a Motion to Dismiss a lawsuit filed by Golden Boy Boxing. Garcia’s advisor, Guadalupe Valencia, also sued in this lawsuit filed a similar motion.
The lawsuit was filed by Golden Boy after Garcia sought mediation with respect to his contract with Golden Boy. He agreed to sign a 5 year contract at the age of 18. In 2019, the contract was extended and revised in California for another 5 year term.
Garcia’s attorneys argue that the case should not have been filed since there was a pre-lawsuit mediation requirement in the fighter’s contract. A formal request was given by Garcia’s team but Golden Boy denied any issues and did not participate in mediation.
Notwithstanding the clause, Garcia also cited procedural issues which were problematic with the filing. The lawsuit was filed in Nevada despite the fact that Garcia is a resident of California and that Golden Boy’s place of business is in California. Further, its lawsuit does not mention that owners Bernard Hopkins and Oscar de la Hoya are residents of California.
Valencia filed his own Motion to Dismiss the case. In addition to citing the procedural issues, he argues that Garcia has not breached the contract therefore any request for injunctive relief for Garcia to abide by the contract would be moot.
Payout Perspective:
Golden Boy will have a chance to respond to the allegations in the Motions to Dismiss. The interesting argument that Golden Boy will have to make are the procedural issues related to why they filed a case in Nevada despite all the parties being in California. While Golden Boy is a company that filed in Delaware, all evidence (including information in the Haymon-Golden Boy lawsuit and its own web site) point to the fact that it is stationed in California. If nothing else, we could see the lawsuit transferring to LA federal court before we reach any substantive issues. MPO will continue to follow.
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