Cuban professional boxer Andy Cruz has filed a lawsuit against his promoter in federal court in California. Cruz signed a deal with Matchroom Boxing but also sued them due to the fact he claim he was not paid. The claims include Violations of the Ali Act, Breach of Contract, Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Conversion among the causes of action.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court of Northern California, states that Cruz was represented by New Champion Promotions, LLC (NCP) to promote fights on his behalf. But, they never solely did this for him. Instead, they brought him to Matchroom Boxing. In May 2023, Cruz and NCP entered into a Boxing Promotional Agreement with Matchroom. The contract indicated that Matchroom would pay NCP “approximately $500,000 of bonuses and purses for the benefit of CRUZ.” However, Cruz claims that his manager withheld “more than $500,000 of the money that NCP was paid…” According to Cruz, “NCP claimed that it was entitled to keep 25% of the funds..”
Per the lawsuit, Cruz states that NCP’s misappropriation of the money paid by Matchroom violated the Muhammad Ali Act. Specifically, it violated the firewall between managers and promoters with NCP taking money from Cruz similar to that of a boxing manager. Also, Cruz notes that NCP is not a licensed “manager” as defined in California.
Cruz has fought two professional fights for Matchroom Boxing and he claims that his promoter has not paid him his full contracted amount for the bouts. In his December 2023 fight, he had given instructions to Matchroom Boxing that he should be the one receiving payment directly. Cruz claims that after his second bout held on the undercard of the Prograis-Haney fight, Matchroom directly paid him half of his purse with the other half going to NCP.
Although indirectly a part of the lawsuit, Cruz demands an accounting of money paid by Matchroom Boxing to NCP. He also wants a “judicial determination” of the “legal rights and duties of the parties” with respect to the payouts he believes he is entitled to from the contract.
Payout Perspective:
NCP and Matchroom have yet to respond to the lawsuit but one can see this being case of NCP acting as “de facto” managers for Cruz and finding Matchroom Boxing to put together fights for their boxer. One might expect NCP arguing that the money it withheld relates to costs it paid for Cruz such as training and travel. But, if we take the lawsuit as truth, this would be a textbook case of a promoter acting as a boxer’s manager. MPO will continue to follow.
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