A federal court in New York City has allowed heavyweight boxer Trevor Bryan and his promoter, Don King Productions to continue their lawsuit against the WBA, with one caveat. Because Bryan and DKP have added new legal claims beyond a court-imposed deadline, the plaintiffs will be required to pay $1000 to the WBA in legal costs. The parties are also currently scheduled to participate in a mediation conference on May 10th. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 when Bryan and DKP demanded that the WBA strip Mahmoud Charr of his WBA "champion in recess" designation. Charr was never named as a defendant in the case. By 2022, the WBA wanted the case dismissed, arguing that Charr has now been stripped of the championship in recess title, so there was nothing left to litigate. But DKP and Bryan pivoted their legal theory, adding new claims to the lawsuit. As a result of last week's ruling, Bryan can now sue the WBA for $600,000, damages he claims to have suffered because the WBA altered its normal purse bid split for Bryan's next title defense, against Daniel Dubois.
DKP won a WBA purse bid and has scheduled Dubois to challenge Bryan on June 11th in Miami. The bout will be broadcast on pay-per-view in the United States, and BT sport in the UK.
The WBA argued for dismissal las month, writing, "Rather than seek voluntary dismissal of their admittedly moot lawsuit, plaintiffs instead now seek an entirely new declaratory judgment, entirely new injunctive relief, and damages relating to an entirely new set of scheduled fights and third-party boxers. Plaintiffs have sought this relief nearly a year into the case, well after the deadline set by this court’s scheduling order. Plaintiffs’ belated effort to metamorphose their lawsuit into whatever form best fits their latest quarrel with the WBA is a clear abuse of the procedural rules. In fact, plaintiffs are currently engaged in resolving their dispute over the Daniel Dubois bout via the WBA’s internal dispute resolution process. Nonetheless, they apparently wish to keep this moot lawsuit alive by amending to add claims that are already being addressed through alternative tribunals."
The court rejected the WBA's argument but required plaintiffs to pay the sanctioning body $1000 for its troubles.
The main issue of the lawsuit has now become Bryan's and DKP's claim that "the WBA violated its own rules and regulations by: (a) calling for a purse bid for a bout between Bryan and the #1 ranked contender, Daniel Dubois, rather than permit the parties to freely negotiate the terms of an agreement, as specifically set forth in the WBA’s March 3rd Resolution, which has harmed Plaintiffs’ ability to effectively promote the bout; (b) reducing the percentage that Bryan can receive of the purse bid proceeds. WBA Rules expressly set forth the [percentage] that Bryan is entitled to receive from the purse bid proceeds (in essence, the WBA reduced Bryan’s percentage from 75% to 55%); and (c) failing to refund monies paid to the WBA by DKP which are required to be refunded. As a result of such conduct, Plaintiffs seek leave to file a Second Amended Complaint."
In greater detail, the proposed new pleading alleges that "on March 3rd, the WBA Championships Committee issued a resolution which gave Plaintiffs and Dubois’ team a 60-day window to negotiate the terms of an agreement only to entirely disregard that letter only 24 hours later by calling for a purse bid of that same bout. In doing so, the WBA imposed a percentage split of the purse bid amount that deviated from the WBA Rules. In essence, although the Rules entitled Bryan to 75% of the purse bid amount, the WBA now takes the arbitrary position that Bryan was only entitled to 55%."
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PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE:
MAY 7, 2022: British heavyweight Daniel Dubois will challenge for Trevor Bryan's WBA regular heavyweight title on June 11th in Miami. The heavyweight action will be broadcast on BT Sport. Dubois (17-1, 16 KOs) heads stateside for a potential breakthrough fight against upstate New York's Bryan (22-0, 15 KOs), with the pair set to fight for the right to be made mandatory to the full WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk, depending on the outcome of Usyk's forthcoming rematch against Anthony Joshua.
Bryan, 32, won his belt via an eleventh-round stoppage of Bermane Stiverne and has navigated a single defense against Jonathan Guidry, last time out in January, with success coming via a split decision on the cards. Dubois, just 24, will be having his second fight across the Atlantic.
“I am thrilled that Daniel is getting his big opportunity to fight for a world championship belt,” said Dubois' promoter Frank Warren. “He has had to bide his time and be a little bit patient because there was always the risk of him being bypassed if he took another fight in the interim. Now his time has come and winning this fight will open all sorts of doors. A new generation of top heavyweights are closing in on the current kings of the division and Daniel, along with Joe Joyce [who stopped Dubois], is leading the charge. Bryan isn’t a household name but there can be no room for complacency. He is unbeaten with a more than respectable knockout ratio, so Daniel will need to be on his guard and on his game in Miami."
APRIL 25, 2022: Don King Productions and WBA regular heavyweight champion Trevor Bryan are seeking to add new claims to their existing lawsuit against the WBA. Bryan claims the WBA has cost him over $600,000 by altering its normal purse bid split. He and Don King Productions (referred to below as "Plaintiffs") have made the following new accusations in United States federal court for events taking place in March [slight edits made for clarity]:
“The WBA violated its own rules and regulations by: (a) calling for a purse bid for a bout between Bryan and the #1 ranked contender, Daniel Dubois, rather than permit the parties to freely negotiate the terms of an agreement, as specifically set forth in the WBA’s March 3rd Resolution, which has harmed Plaintiffs’ ability to effectively promote the bout; (b) reducing the percentage that Bryan can receive of the purse bid proceeds. WBA Rules expressly set forth the [percentage] that Bryan is entitled to receive from the purse bid proceeds (in essence, the WBA reduced Bryan’s percentage from 75% to 55%); and (c) failing to refund monies paid to the WBA by DKP which are required to be refunded. As a result of such conduct, Plaintiffs seek leave to file a Second Amended Complaint." Court permission is required to formally file the new pleading, but is likely to be granted.
In greater detail, the proposed new pleading alleges that "on March 3rd, the WBA Championships Committee issued a resolution which gave Plaintiffs and Dubois’ team a 60-day window to negotiate the terms of an agreement only to entirely disregard that letter only 24 hours later by calling for a purse bid of that same bout. In doing so, the WBA imposed a percentage split of the purse bid amount that deviated from the WBA Rules. In essence, although the Rules entitled Bryan to 75% of the purse bid amount, the WBA now takes the arbitrary position that Bryan was only entitled to 55%.
"On March 21st, Don King Productions won the purse bid for the Bryan/Dubois bout, beating out Dubois’ promoter, Queensberry Promotions, with a bid of $3,116,001. Under the improper split imposed by the WBA, Bryan is entitled to 55%, or approximately $1,713,800, while Dubois is entitled to the remaining 45%, or approximately $1,402,200. Had the WBA honored its own rules, Bryan would be entitled to 75%, or approximately $2,337,000, while Dubois would be entitled to the remaining 25%, or approximately $779,000."
The Bryan/Dubois bout is supposed to take place on June 11th, but given Don King Production's sketchy history on purse bid fights, most observers view that date as dubious. As far as the lawsuit is concerned, the parties will be conducting discovery through July, with a court conference scheduled for July 8th.
The proposed new pleading also alleged, "As a result of the WBA’s failure to allow the parties to negotiate a contract, the WBA has financially harmed DKP by precluding DKP from the right to negotiate terms more favorable than those imposed by the improper purse bid. By way of example, given the WBA’s requirement that a purse bid occur, DKP is required to collectively pay the fighters the total purse bid amount, i.e., $3,116,001, even though DKP may have been able to negotiate an agreement, had it been afforded the opportunity to do so, wherein it would have collectively paid the fighters a lesser amount. Moreover, by imposing a purse bid rather than permitting the parties to negotiate the terms of an agreement, the WBA has capped the revenue that Bryan can obtain from this bout. In addition, by lowering the percentage of the purse bid due to Bryan, the WBA has substantially harmed Bryan as well. These events occurred only recently and Plaintiffs have acted diligently in seeking to bring claims against the WBA arising from such conduct."
AUG. 23, 2021: On June 2, 2021, Don King Productions (DKP) and Trevor Bryan sued the WBA, demanding that the WBA strip Mahmoud Charr of his heavyweight "champion in recess" designation. Charr was not named as a defendant in the case, which was filed by attorneys Jonathan Walsh and Alejandro Brito. On June 3rd, Boxingtalk reported that the lawsuit had "zero percent" chance of succeeding as written. Subsequent events proved that prediction to be accurate, as DKP's lawyers admit they intend to re-do the complaint. Here are the latest developments:
On July 29th, the WBA filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The WBA argued that New York courts have no jurisdiction over the WBA: "The WBA has no ongoing contractual relationship with a New York corporation. The WBA has not visited New York for the purpose of meeting with any of the parties regarding the matters alleged in the Complaint. The choice-of-law and venue provisions for disputes involving the WBA is established in the WBA Rules as the State of Washington, not the State of New York... the WBA’s headquarters are located in another nation, Panama, where it conducts and directs its stated mission of promoting the sport of boxing. The only connection the WBA has with the State of New York is that, on occasions when a boxing match sanctioned by the WBA takes place in the state, the WBA may assign a Supervisor to attend the bout and related events. At the present time, the WBA has no personnel eligible to be assigned as Supervisors who are residents or citizens of the State of New York."
Rather than fight the motion to dismiss, the attorneys for DKP and Bryan announced that they would file an amended complaint.
JUNE 3, 2021: Don King Productions and Trevor Bryan sued the WBA on Wednesday, demanding that the WBA strip Mahmoud Charr of his heavyweight "champion in recess" designation. Charr was not named as a defendant in the case, which was filed by attorneys Jonathan Walsh and Alejandro Brito, giving the lawsuit zero percent chance of succeeding as written. No judge would strip a boxer when that boxer is not present before the court to defend his rights. (Of course, the lawsuit can still be amended.) Bryan, who is promoted by DKP, is recognized as the WBA's secondary or "regular" heavyweight champion behind WBA super champion Anthony Joshua. Bryan obtained his secondary title only after Charr was demoted by the WBA in January from regular champion to champion in recess. Bryan was then sanctioned to fight the unqualified Bermane Stiverne for the vacant regular title.
When the WBA demoted Charr and sanctioned Bryan-Stiverne to determine his successor, it was widely viewed as severe corruption that benefitted DKP, because DKP controls the careers of Bryan and Stiverne but does not control Charr. That DKP and Bryan were basically gifted a heavyweight championship, even a secondary one, makes this lawsuit against the WBA truly bizarre. DKP's principal, Don King, is approaching 90 years of age and has enjoyed a decades-long close relationship with the WBA.
After that, the lawsuit alleges that on March 17th, the WBA ordered Bryan to defend against Charr by May 30th. Apparently neither side took any steps to compy with the WBA order and Charr arranged to fight Christopher Lovejoy in Germany on May 15th.
Although filed on June 2nd, much of the lawsuit appears to have been written a few weeks ago, because it states that "if Lovejoy were to defeat Charr, there is no indication from the WBA that Charr would lose his staus as champion in recess." Charr defeated Lovejoy via second-round knockout three weeks ago.
The lawsuit claims that Bryan's career is being negatively impacted because "Bryan will be forced to forego participation in bouts against rival boxers who are unwilling to engage in discussions with Bryan or DKP unless and until the WBA clarifies Charr's status... other fighters are reluctant to participate in a bout against Bryan until such time as Charr's overly extended champion in recess status is addressed by the WBA."
DKP also claims injury because as long as Charr is champion in recess and the WBA could order a Charr-Bryan fight in the future, "DKP's ability to effectively promote a bout for Bryan against other leading contenders is substantially impacted."
