A trial is scheduled for May 17-25 at the U.S. District Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa in a lawsuit involving Philadelphia welterweight Jaron Ennis, one of boxing's brightest young stars. The plaintiff in the case is Chris Middendorf, a long-time boxing insider who maintains he is Ennis' rightful promoter through a company called Victory Boxing Promotions. Middendorf is suing Jaron, as well as Jaron's father and co-manager, Derek Ennis, Sr. and Cameron and Joseph Dunkin, two brothers who also claim the right to promote Ennis. Cameron is also a long-time boxing insider and, according to Middendorf, the former manager of Ennis who switched over to the promotional side with a company called Now Boxing Promotions. However, Cameron claims that Victory Boxing Promotions belongs to brother Joseph, not Middendorf. Joseph Dunkin appears to have had his name placed on some of the Victory Boxing Promotions paperwork "despite his minimal involvement" subsequent to contract signing. According to Boxingtalk's review of the latest court filings, Middendorf has been excluded from the career of Ennis and has sued to enforce the contractual rights. The Ennises are taking a low profile in the court filings, allowing the dueling promoters to submit the pre-trial filings. Court filings revealed that Ennis' last six purses have totaled $2.1 million and of that amount, $426,600 is being held in escrow for whoever is determined to be Ennis' rightful promoter. Here is what some of the most recent court filings had to say, and remember, the truth will be determined at the upcoming jury trial, and what is written below are simply the respective parties' arguments:
On April 23rd, plaintiff Chris Middendorf filed the following statement of the case:
Plaintiff Christopher Middendorf d/b/a Victory Boxing Promotions has alleged that on or about April 4, 2016, professional boxer Jaron Ennis signed a promotional agreement with Victory Boxing Promotions, a promotional company owned by Middendorf. Middendorf contends that Jaron Ennis and co-defendants Derek Ennis Sr., Cameron Dunkin and Joseph Dunkin were all aware that Middendorf owned Victory Boxing Promtions and these same defendants actually worked together alongside Middendorf for Jaron’s first 22 professional fights (Ennis won all of them). Soon after his 22nd fight in November 2018, Defendant Jaron Ennis and his manager Cameron Dunkin refused to communicate with Plaintiff about scheduling Ennis’s next fight. Specifically, Jaron Ennis and his father Derek Sr. and Dunkin drafted a press release and published it on the several major boxing websites where they contended that Middendorf was never Jaron Ennis’s promoter.
Around the same time as the press release, the Dunkins and Ennis Sr. convinced Jaron to sign a new promotional agreement with an upstart boxing promotional company which is actually owned by Cameron Dunkin called Now Boxing Promtions. These three Defendants essentially ochastrated the stealing of the promotional rights to promote Jaron Ennis from Middendorf.
Middendorf contends that he and Jaron had a valid and enforceable contract and that Jaron was well aware that Middendorf was and had been his promoter for years. When Jaron refused to fight for Middendorf, he [according to Middendorf] breached their valid contract, and as a result, Middendorf is entitled to the damages that flow from the breach of their contract, including but not limited to, lost profits, attorneys’ fees and expenses, interest, and costs.
Middendorf further asserts that Ennis Sr. and the Dunkins tortiously interfered with Middendorf's contract with Jaron. As a result, these defendants caused Middendofr substantial damages by delaying fights for Jaron and failing to capitalize on key opportunities that would have resulted in the promotional agreement at issue being extended.
In Middendorf's view, the main questions in this lawsuit are: Did Middendorf and Jaron have a valid and enforceable contract? If they did, did Jaron breach the contract by refusing to fight for Middendorf? Did Ennis Sr. and the Dunkins tortiously interfere with Middendorf’s rights under the valid agreement?
***
On April 24th, defendants Cameron Dunkin and Joseph Dunkin filed the following statement of the case:
Cameron Dunkin was a co-manager of Jaron Ennis pursuant to his 2016 promotional agreement, and became his promoter pursuant to their subsequent 2019
promotional rights agreement. Cameron Dunkin had a long career as a boxing manager before beginning the transition to becoming a boxing promoter beginning around 2016. Because Cameron could not be both a manager and promoter for the same boxer (because doing so could constitute a violation of the Muhammad Ali Act), but wanted and intended to be the promoter of fighters in the future, he facilitated the signing of numerous boxers to promotional rights agreements whereby he was indicated as a manager and the promoter is indicated as 'Victory Boxing Promotions.' [Editor's note: there appears to be a grammatical or typographical error in the prior sentence, which is quoted exactly how it appears in the court filing]. These contracts identified Victory Boxing Promotions with the address of Cameron's brother, Joseph, and were signed on behalf of Victory Boxing Promotions by Joseph Dunkin. A few of these contract forms had Joseph's name typed in under Victory Boxing Promotions on the signature page. Notwithstanding his identification as Victory Boxing Promotions on these contracts, Joseph had minimal involvement with the fighters subsequent to their signings.
Middendorf was fully aware of Cameron Dunkin's contract arrangements when Jaron signed a promotional agreement in 2016. Cameron Dunkin and Chris Middendorf had an informal arrangement in place whereby Middendorf would function as Cameron's "boots on the ground," so to speak, with respect to fighters signed by Cameron, and would share in the promotional expenses relative to specific fighters, including Jaron, and events featuring boxers signed to promotional agreements by Victory Boxing Promotions (by Joseph Dunkin).
Notwithstanding, Cameron and Middendorf never reached an agreement with one another as to how Middendorf would be compensated in the event that a boxer, in whom Middendorf had invested time and money in some manner, achieved a profitable career.
Jaron Ennis and Derek Ennis, Sr. are son and father. Derek is Jaron's trainer and also his co-manager under each version of a promotional agreement that is asserted. Tom Moran, who was a party to this suit before being dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, is a close and trusted adviser to the Ennises.
The Ennises were presented with a promotional agreement proposal by Cameron in 2016. The form of the contract was prepared by Cameron, was presented by Cameron, and was negotiated by Cameron. Neither Middendorf nor Joseph Dunkin had any involvement of any significance with the Ennises with respect to the preparation, proposal, negotiation, or signing of the promotional agreement. The Ennises, with Tom Moran's guidance, signed the agreement in April of 2016, understanding and believing that they were signing with Cameron Dunkin, who would guide Jaron's career notwithstanding the vagueness as to who or what Victory Boxing Promotions actually was. The Ennises signed the contract and forwarded it to Cameron, who signed it himself before forwarding the same to Joseph to sign on behalf of Victory Boxing Promotions.
Because of Jaron's amateur boxing pedigree, an Ennis promotional rights agreement was going to have significant short-term costs, including both a signing bonus, bout purses, and monthly stipends to Jaron. Chris Middendorf was enthused at the prospect of having a role in Jaron Ennis's career, and he and Cameron agreed to share in the expenses of promoting Jaron if Cameron was able to sign him. However, ultimately, no agreement was ever hashed out between Cameron and Middendorf, let alone disclosed to the Ennises, as to what if any rights Middendorf would have with respect to the profits of Jaron's career, or what relationship Middendorf actually had with the Victory Boxing Promotions identified in the promotional rights agreements drafted and negotiated by Cameron and signed by Joseph.
The relationship between Middendorf and others (advisor Tom Moran, the Ennises and Cameron Dunkin) deteriorated in early 2019 after Middendorf claimed that he was Jaron's promoter. The Ennises, by way of a letter to Cameron that was apparently drafted by Moran, refused to continue any involvement with Middendorf based on their understanding of the 2016 promotional agreement.
Both Middendorf and Cameron proceeded to dispute throughout the boxing industry whether Middendorf owned any legitimate promotional rights with respect to Jaron. Middendorf circulated a cease and desist communication to others. A potential bout for Jaron in April of 2019 at an event promoted by Salita Promotions fell through given the uncertainty within the boxing community as to how to proceed with the promotional rights conflict at hand. Jaron thereafter suffered an unusual lapse in boxing bout activity, which was not resolved until the necessary parties entered into an Interim Fight Agreement permitting Cameron to promote Jaron on the principal condition that 20% percent of the fight purses acquired by Jaron be held in escrow by Cameron's attorney, William Toomey. Since entering into the Interim Fight Agreement, Jaron has fought six bouts, all televised on Showtime, and has earned a total of $2,133,000 in purses, of which $426,600 is now being held in trust pursuant to the Interim Fight Agreement.
The Dunkin and Ennis parties allege that: (1) there never was any agreement that Middendorf promote Ennis; (2) Joseph Dunkin was Victory Boxing Promotions for purposes of the promotional agreement signed by Jaron and Derek Ennis in 2016, and (3) that any arrangements between Cameron and Middendorf as to the amount of compensation to be received by Middendorf were never settled upon, were never memorialized in writing, and were never disclosed to Jaron or Derek Ennis.
The Dunkins allege that Middendorf acted without authority in asserting himself to be Ennis' promoter, and that his misrepresentations caused Ennis to lose out on one or more bout opportunities and stalled the progression of his boxing career. Based on these allegations, the Dunkins assert the claims of fraud and tortious interference with contract against Middendorf.
