A federal court ruled yesterday that Don King and the WBA will have to face charges that they violated the Muhammad Ali Act and conspired to strip heavyweight Mahmoud Charr of the WBA regular championship. King asked the court to dismiss those claims, but yesterday’s ruling largely rejected that request. The dispute began in 2020, soon after King and his company, Don King Productions, Inc. (DKP), won a WBA purse bid which required DKP to promote a title fight between Charr and Trevor Bryan. However, King overbid for the fight by committing his company to pay Charr a purse of $1.5 million to fight the little-known Bryan. The Charr-Bryan fight never happened, as King delayed it to prevent a certain financial loss. A dispute soon emerged over who was to blame for Charr’s failure to receive a visa to enter the United States for the fight. King blamed Charr while Charr said King refused to provide the signed contract that he needed to obtain the visa. The WBA eventually stripped Charr of his title and allowed two boxers controlled by King-- Bryan and the grossly unqualified Bermane Stiverne—to fight for the title instead. Bryan defeated Stiverne and inherited Charr’s title.
Charr filed his lawsuit in 2021 in the Southern District of Florida against King, DKP and Epic Sports and Entertainment, demanding a minimum of $1.5 million. In August of this year, Charr added the WBA and its president, Gilberto Mendoza, Jr. as defendants to the lawsuit through an amended complaint.
The amended complaint charges that King bribed the WBA through indirect payments to a third-party company that found their way to the WBA and Mendoza, and that, as a result of these illegal payments, the WBA worked with King to injure Charr. It is indisputable that the WBA stripped Charr of his title, freed King of the obligation to pay Charr the $1.5 million purse and then allowed Bryan to face a hand-picked opponent that give King control of the WBA’s secondary, but still economically valuable, heavyweight title.
Here is a claim-by-claim breakdown on Charr’s lawsuit in the wake of the court’s latest ruling:
Charr’s first claim in the amended complaint is that King and DKP violated United States federal law, known as the Muhammad Ali Act. The relevant portion of that law provides that officers or employees of sanctioning organizations such as the WBA cannot receive compensation, gifts or benefits from promoters, boxers or managers except as part of a published sanctioning fee charge that is reported to a commission.
Charr alleges that WBA officers and employees, WBA president Mendoza, openly solicited monetary gifts, and that payments were made to a business entity of which Mendoza’s son and another WBA employee were part. That business is identified as Sports Consulting Services, LLC. According to Charr, the Muhammad Ali act was violated when King, DKP, and Epic paid compensation, provided gifts, and/or other benefits to officers and employees of the WBA, directly and/or indirectly and that the WBA has failed to file the disclosures required under the law. The court ruled that Charr’s allegations were sufficient to survive King and DKP’s motion to dismiss.
Charr’s second claim was for violations of RICO, a federal anti-racketeering law. The court dismissed the RICO claims, saying Charr did not properly plead the required elements of a RICO claim, including that King or DKP “operated or managed” the WBA.
Charr’s third claim is for breach of contract against King and DKP, which was not challenged in this motion. Charr’s breach of contract therefore remains active in this lawsuit.
King prevailed against Charr’s fourth claim, which was that DKP’s winning purse bid formed a separate contract protecting Charr. The court dismissed claim four.
Charr’s fifth and sixth claims are tortious interference against King and DKP, and breach of contract against WBA. Those claims were also not at issue on this motion and therefore remain as active claims that Charr can prosecute as the lawsuit moves forward.
Charr’s seventh claim alleges that a civil conspiracy existed between King and DKP on the one hand, and Mendoza and WBA on the other hand. The lawsuit charges that King, DKP, Mendoza, and other WBA officials entered into an agreement to exert illegal influence over the WBA to cause the WBA to strip Charr without just cause and in violation of WBA rules. The court denied the motion to dismiss as to this claim.
The lawsuit will now enter the discovery phase where each side gets to request the other sides’ evidence. Charr is represented by attorneys Jared Lopez and Patrick English, who has dueled with King over many of the biggest fights in recent boxing history.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE:
AUGUST 11, 2021: Mahmoud Charr a/k/a Manuel Charr, the WBA heavyweight champion in recess, has sued Don King, Don King Productions, Inc. (DKP) and Epic Sports and Entertainment (Epic) in federal court in Florida. Charr alleges breach of contract, breach of a WBA purse bid agreement, tortious interference with business relationship and civil conspiracy. The lawsuit demands a minimum of $1.5 million; it does not name the WBA as a defendant. Charr's causes of action arise from dealings with King from 2019 through 2021 that culminated with King and the WBA working together to demote Charr from regular champion to champion in recess and replace Charr with Trevor Bryan vs. a hand-picked opponent. Here is the background of the complicated dealings between Charr, King, the WBA and Bryan:
In November of 2017, Charr was crowned the WBA regular heavyweight champion. The WBA stripped Charr of his regular title in January of 2021, with Charr contending that King "and other unknown co-conspirators exerted undue influence on the WBA." The result of this influence prevented Charr from making a mandatory defense of his title against King’s own fighter, Trevor Bryan, who then replaced Charr as the WBA regular champion.
According to the allegations in the complaint, DKP and Epic agreed to serve as Charr’s co-promoters in 2019, and under a promotional contract, Charr’s purse for his title defenses would at least $750,000 unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties. Charr alleges this contract was breached.
On March 2, 2020, a WBA purse bid went forward. DKP won the rights to the rescheduled Charr/Bryan Bout with a bid of a $2 million. Pursuant to the WBA resolution, Charr, as reigning champion, was to receive 75% of the total bid amount or $1.5 million. Charr alleges this obligation was also breached.
According to Charr’s complaint, “After Charr was unable to participate in the Charr-Bryan bout [because he could not obtain a] P-1 Visa as a result of DKP and King’s obstruction, the WBA cancelled the Charr/Bryan Bout. Thereafter, DKP and King, along with unknown co-conspirators exerted additional undue influence over the WBA by convincing the WBA to strip Charr of his title… DKP and King’s obvious intention was to ensure Bryan, who was at the time the WBA interim champion and challenger for Charr's WBA regular title, faced an easy opponent so Bryan could be crowned the new champion and, in return, DKP and King could maximize their profits off of the title fight as Bryan’s promoters.”
Back in June, DKP and Bryan sued the WBA in federal court in New York, demanding that the WBA strip Charr of his heavyweight champion in recess designation. The WBA claims there is no personal jurisdiction in New York, but DKP said it intends to file an amended complaint. Another boxer, Fres Oquendo, has a lawsuit pending in Illinois federal court against the WBA, seeking the right to fight for the WBA heavyweight title.
JANUARY 30, 2021: The WBA sunk to an all-time low on Friday, committing the unpardonable corruption of approving a boxer who hasn't won a bout in more than five years (Bermane Stiverne) to fight someone who hasn't fought for more than two years (Trevor Bryan) for the WBA regular (secondary) heavyweight championship. The WBA's partner in this crime against boxing is its long-time co-conspirator, promoter Don King, who not so coincidentally has the exclusive promotional rights to both Stiverne and Bryan. In order to accomplish this travesty, the WBA, at King's request, stripped Mahmoud Charr of his championship and waived King's obligation to pay Charr the $1.5 million Charr was contracted to be paid to fight Bryan. Although Charr will undoubtedly sue both King and the WBA for their actions, the WBA will shamefully crown a fake champion in a fight that takes place tonight in an empty conference room in South Florida with a few thousand people watching an internet pay-per-view stream. Another layer of duplicity for the WBA is that Bryan vs. Stiverne is misleadingly for the WBA regular (secondary) title, with Anthony Johsua holding the WBA super championship.
Bryan stopped Stiverne in round eleven to win the WBA regular heavyweight championship.
The WBA ruling came at 1:40 PM eastern time, capping a dizzying series of events where the WBA stripped Charr, rescinded the order seventeen minutes later, and then reissued it a few hours later, all on the same day that Stiverne and Bryan would compete in thier hastily arranged bout. At the same time, the WBA unexpectedly issued new rankings that, despite Stiverne going 0-2 with 2 brutal knockout losses since 2015, put Stiverne eleventh. In another brazenly corrupt transaction, the WBA moved undistinguished heavyweight Bogdan Dinu up to number three, virtually assuring him a title shot in the near future as Bryan, the current #1, and Oleksandr Usyk, the current #2, will soon be out of the rankings.
The WBA's first ruling was made in the form of a four-page document on WBA letterhead signed by Carlos Chavez, Chairman Championship Committee. It was sent out by long-time WBA employee Nory Gil at 10:36 AM Eastern time. Boxingtalk has a copy of the order as well as the e-mail chain that distributed it. The order stated that the WBA had demoted Mahmoud Charr from regular champion to champion in recess. However, seventeen minutes later, Gil sent a second e-mail retracting the ruling that stated as follows: "Please disregard this communication, it is not valid and it was send by an involuntary mistake. Please accept my apologies."
"I have no idea what is going on, not the slightest idea," said Patrick English, Charr's attorney, said at the time. For the first time in nearly 50 years of promoting, the normally loquacious King has not done any pre-fight publicity at all.
A few background points: At stake here is the WBA's secondary title, a fact often intentionally obscured by the WBA to deceive viewers into believing they are watching or buying a legitimate championship fight. In fact, the WBA recognizes England's Anthony Joshua as its top-tier champion under its intentionally confusing three-tier championship system... Stiverne and Bryan are both under contract to Don King while Charr is not... Stiverne is 42 years old and has not won a professional boxing match since 2015. Bryan, the WBA's thrid-tier or interim champion, has not fought since 2018. Charr has not fought since 2017 and has had previous PED issues... Under the terms of a WBA purse bid, King was obligated to pay Charr $1.5 million to fight Bryan. King's position is that Charr, a reisdent of Germany, never obtained a proper visa to fight in the United States, while Charr says King refused to supply the necessary documents for him to obtain the visa. Boxingtalk fully expects Charr to sue King for a $1.5 million breach of contract in thenear future... The WBA is also being sued over this fiasco by heavyweight Fres Oquendo in Ilinois federal court. At one point, Oquendo had the right to challenge Charr for the title but that was when Charr had the PED issues, and Charr-Oquendo got lost in the shuffle soon afterwards. Oquendo has not fought since 2014.
HERE IS THE WBA'S RULING STRIPPING CHARR:
1. Based upon the [WBA] Rules, which Charr is presumed to know, a champion must regularly defend his title, remain active, and follow the WBA's instructions regarding title defenses. Charr has not defended his title in over three (3) years.
2. While we understand Mahmoud Charr is willing to comply his obligations and did every effort possible to box under the decision of the previous resolution, avoid inactivity, pursue his career, a cause beyond the reasonable control affected his participation on January 29th, 2021.
3. Thus, this committee finds sufficient facts and conditions to declare Mahmoud Charr Champion in Recess, in order to extend and solve, all legal and business pending matters or request remedies to solve his unavailability.
4. Don King Productions request will be granted to box for WBA Heavyweight championship between interim title holder Trevor Bryan and ex-champion Bermane Stiverne in
Hollywood, Florida next January 29, 2021.
5. The championships committee finds former champion Bermane Stiverne eligible to fight Trevor Bryant and has requested the Ratings committee his inclusion in the ratings.
6. In the event a winner is declared between Bryan and Stiverne, he MUST box Mahmoud Charr no later than One hundred twenty (120) days from January 29th, 2021, in other
words, the title bout must happen by May 30, 2021. In case the bout ends in a draw Trevor Bryant will be obligated to box in his next fight Mahmoud Charr under the same time conditions. No
exceptions or special permits will be applicable until Charr exercises his rights in order to define the championship in the division.
7. In the following day of the result of the bout a negotiation and purse bid conditions will be consider by special conditions and flexible to current rules and regulations.
8. The purse bid procedure held on 2020 will be declared void finding neither party liable in its failure.
9. The affected boxers or any other interested party may request later amendments to this resolution if the circumstances present at the time warrant consideration. This resolution is subject to the provisions of the revised rules regarding request for reconsideration and appeals.
10. This resolution supersedes any previous resolution solely dealing with this subject
JAN. 28, 2021: Boxingtalk has received the following official statement from Steffen Soltau, a representative of WBA regular champion Mahmoud Charr: Sad, but simple: no signed contract from Don King Promotions, no P1 visa. [Charr's] entry [into the United States to defend his title] was imminent. All formalities were settled. Only a valid P1 visa stood in the way of the planned fight between Mahmoud Charr and Trevor Bryan in the USA. This was already organized and could easily have been issued, but since Don King Productions [who won a WBA purse bid and therefore was obligated to promote the fight] still refuses to sign a valid fight contract and cannot provide any confirmation for the venue, the US consulate in Frankfurt could NOT, to the chagrin of everyone, hand over the visa, which the consulate announced in writing.
This is the provisional culmination of an odyssey in which Don King left no doubt from the start that his interest in this fight never existed. Although he took responsibility for himself in his fight contract and wanted to take care of the visa situation and other organizational matters, it was Charr and [his promoter, Erol Ceylan's] EC Boxing who took the reins of action and got everything in motion. This also includes the necessary medical tests, all of which have been successfully completed. And that [was done even] though the other side never signed the fight contract.
In spite of all these additional efforts, although these fell into the area of responsibility of DKP, the missing signature ultimately tipped the scales. So the fight in Florida scheduled for Friday will not take place. Charr and EC Boxing are extremely disappointed with this development and would like a solution soon – also from the WBA. It is clear that a world championship fight with the participation of Charr [nicknamed the “Diamond Boy”] will take place in the near future.
JAN. 26, 2021: Don King is desperately looking for a way out of losing $2 million on Friday's Mahmoud Charr vs. Trevor Bryan trainwreck. Just yesterday, King filed a request with the WBA to have Charr stripped of his WBA secondary heavyweight title. The request was made just days in advance of Friday's calendared fight between Charr and the King-promoted interim title holder, Trevor Bryan. King's company, Don King Productions (DKP) won a $2 million purse bid for the fight in early 2020 and stands to lose nearly all of that money if King is forced to live up to his contractual obligations. Under WBA purse bid rules, Charr, as the champion, is entitled to a $1.5 million from DKP, while Bryan would receive $500,000. King scheduled the fight for Friday at the Seminole Hard Rock in southern Florida, but with no live attendance, no television coverage of any sort, and only an amateurishly promoted online stream that few fans will buy, the Hall of Fame promoter is looking to avoid the multi-million dollar loss by blaming Charr, who lives in Germany, for failing to obtain a visa to come to the United States. Charr insists he now has the visa, and his attorney Patrick English, has filed a scathing opposition to King's request.
Yesterday, DKP filed what is known as a "special permit request" to the WBA asking it to either strip Charr or demote him to champion in recess, and then have Bryan fight Bermane Stiverne, another King boxer, for Charr's title (which is a secondary one because Anthony Joshua WBA recognition as the super champion). Although he was briefly a WBC champion, Stiverne has not won a fight since 2015 and is considered unfit to fight at the championship level-- if at all-- due to shot reflexes and the frightening amount of punishment he absorbed in losses to Deontay Wilder and Joe Joyce.
English, who has dueled with King over many of the biggest fights in recent boxing history, was predictably savage in Charr's opposition papers submitted to the WBA. English wrote: "We have been dealing with Don King for nearly 40 years. Nothing is ever his fault; it is always the fault of another. The truth here is that King loves options he can weasel his way out of. He was unable to get an option [to promote future Charr fights] here, and he was bound by the [purse] bid he made. He simply does not wish to reach into his pocket and pay the purses he committed to at the time of the bid. It is abundantly clear that Mr. Charr is available [to fight] and that DKP simply does not want to go forward and is making excuses. One does not need to be a genius to understand what the plan here was. King was slow walking his visa responsibilities [to permit Charr to enter the United States from Germany]. He then intended to come to the WBA when the visa did not come through and, through crocodile tears, claim that Mr. Charr was unavailable. However, when President Biden removed the Muslim ban, Mr. Charr was unwilling to leave matters in the hands of Mr. King and went to the U.S. consulate, foiling King’s Machiavellian plan. To suggest that a Bryan-Stiverne bout is of significance to the boxing world, as [King's attorney] does in his letter, is laughable. As noted, Stiverne is not even a ranked contender. The WBA will be a laughingstock if this application is granted and will put itself in legal jeopardy. Mr. King is and was unwilling to live up to the terms of the purse bid. He defaulted in March of 2020 and he is defaulting again.This special permit request should not be granted. The WBA should not put itself in the position of being a co-conspirator with Mr. King. King has once again defaulted on his obligations."
With respect to the specifics of Charr's claimed inability to come to Florida and defend his title, Charr's response to the WBA was very precise: "The application by DKP for Bryan to fight Stiverne is based upon a lie. To put it very directly, Mr. Charr is available and has done absolutely everything he was supposed to do. At this point he has picked up his visa. He has taken two VADA tests. He has submitted his medical [records]. He has taken a Covid test so he can fly. Flight information has been provided to DKP so it could be booked and when they did not book the flight, [Charr] booked [it] himself. He was eager to defend his title against Mr. Bryan. This application was transmitted after DKP knew of Mr. Charr’s availability and after that availability had been publicly published."
English then sought to blame King for the fiasco: "What has not been done is the return of a timely countersigned contract from Mr. King and the making of flight arrangements by him, [which is] the Promoter’s responsibility. It was the responsibility of DKP to obtain a visa for Mr. Charr, but he took matters into his own hands when it became clear that DKP was not going to do so and [Charr] went to the consulate himself. [On] Friday of last week, DKP was informed of the status as was the WBA [that Charr picked up his visa."
JAN. 25, 2021: Don King Productions has applied to the WBA asking that regular heavyweight champion Mahmoud Charr be stripped or demoted to "champion in recess" so that Trevor Bryan and Bermane Stiverne can fight for the vacant title on Friday in Florida. The request was immediately opposed by Charr's attorney, Patrick English. "This is a fraud. Don King knows Charr is available. Charr signed the contract but DKP never sent it back [countersigned]. DKP never arranged for any flights for Charr even though the contract he signed required it." Boxingscene reports that Charr has obtained a visa to come to the United States, but it was unclear at the moment whether he will be getting on a plane.
Don King personally signed an application to the WBA asking for "sanctioning of the bout between [Trevor] Bryan and Bermane Stiverne for the WBA world heavyweight championship, while placing Mahmoud Charr as champion in recess for his unavailability or in the alternative removing his designation as world champion."
The idea of Bermane Stiverne fighting for any kind of a title, even this secondary one, is abhorrent to any fan of boxing. Stiverne has not won a professional boxing match since 2015, and since then, he has been knocked out twice, looking so dreadful in those losses that it is debatable whether he should even be licensed to box.
Neither Bryan nor Charr are active either. Bryan's last fight was a 2018 win over BJ Flores in which he became the WBA's interim, or third-tier title holder. Charr's last fight was a 2017 win over Alexander Ustinov in which he became athe WBA's regular, or second-tier title holder (Besides Bryan and Charr, the WBA also recognizes Anthony Joshua as the super champion).
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JAN. 14, 2021: A very amateurish 100-second video posted to Don King's website promised that a Mahmoud Charr vs. Trevor Bryan heavyweight bout will take place on Friday, January 20th at the "Hard Rock Casino" [presumably the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida]. The video said the fight will be shown on pay-per-stream at donkingtv.com. For the undercard, the announcer mispronounced Beibut Shumenov's name, promising that "Babeat Shoe" will be facing Raphael Murphy. The pay-per-stream card will also feature Don King reminiscing about some great fights of the past, such as Holmes-Cooney. Let's just say the video did nothing to convince the many doubters that King has no intention of actually going through with the card. In fact, Vada, the drug-testing organization tweeted that, "Don King Promotons has asked VADA to not enter Raphael Murphy & Beibut Shumenov into our program at this time."
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JAN. 7, 2021: According to his website, Hall of Famer Don King is planning a boxing show for January 29th in south Florida (no specific venue named). The main event, if the show comes off, will be WBA regular champion Mahmoud Charr (31-4) vs. WBA interim titlist Trevor Bryan. Charr (sometimes called Manuel Charr) has not fought since 2017 and has reportedly tested positive for illegal performance enhancing substances since then. Bryan (20-0) has not fought since 2018. The reported co-feature has Beibut Shumenov (18-2) defending his WBA regular cruiserweight title against Raphael Murphy (14-1). Shumenov has not fought since 2018, while Murphy is completey unworthy of a title shot of any kind. The third fight listed is former WBC heavyweight title holder Bermane Stiverne, who looked completely shot in his last two fights (both KO losses), against Christopher Lovejoy, an unknown but undefeated heavyweight. No television deal has been announced for the show, and with Don King in his late 80s and little, if any, staff left at his company, it is questionable whether this show will actually happen.
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DEC. 1, 2020 story: Manuel Charr is the WBA regular heavyweight champion even though he has not fought in three years. Trevor Bryan is the WBA interim heavyweight champion even though he has not fought in two years. The WBA finally got around to ordering them to fight each other in the next 60 days, likely because it wants to strip them both and let Deontay Wilder vs. TBA and Robert Helenius vs. Adam Kownacki fill the two vacancies. Here is what the WBA ordered: "the heavyweight title fight between champion Mahmoud Charr and the mandatory challenger Trevor Bryan will have to be held by January 29th, 2021, according to a statement issued by the WBA Championships Committee, and signed by Carlos Chávez.
"The [WBA] requested Don King Promotions to send the contracts signed by both boxers as soon as possible with details on the fight venue and date. The bidding for this mandatory fight took place last March 2nd in Panama City and according to the organization’s rules, specifically rule D.11: Purse Offer Contracts, The Promoter winning the Purse Bid shall have all bout contracts properly signed and delivered to the Championships Committee Chairman no later than twenty (20) days from the date on which the winning bid is awarded. However, in this case, the pause in boxing due to the [coronavirus] pandemic prevented such procedure from being carried out normally, so it was put on hold. Now that most countries have opened their borders and boxing is taking place around the world in a considerable volume, it is a good time to resume the process. Should any or both fighters (Charr – Bryan) fail to sign the contract, he or they will lose their position as champion or/and mandatory challenger."
The communication, which was sent to all parties via email, also highlights that the bout shall be conducted under the rules of the WBA, with the respective appointment of officials. It also states that that the laboratories to be used for anti-doping tests should be certified by VADA/WADA in order to be accepted. The WBA is waiting for a response from Don King Promotions and wishes that the fight can be carried out as arranged in the bidding.
MARCH 3, 2020: [In a fight that may very well never happen], Don King Productions won the purse bid to promote a WBA regular heavyweight championship fight between Syria’s Mahmoud Charr a/k/a Manuel Charr and America’s Trevor Bryan. The purse bid took place on Monday morning at WBA offices in Panama City and was directed by Panamanian Aurelio Fiengo. Don King Productions bid $2,000,000, earning the right to promote the fight, while Global Management submitted a losing bid in the amount of $1,020,000.00. The purse distribution will be 75% for Charr and 25% for Bryan [who holds the meaningless WBA interim title]. [Both men have been missing in inaction. Charr has had PED issues and hasn't fought since 2017; Bryan has not fought since 2018].
King listed the first option is Las Vegas or New York on May 23rd. The second option listed is Kinsasha, Congo, on May 30th, while the third possibility would be Qatar or Saudi Arabia also on May 30th. [King recently won and then defaulted on a WBA purse bid involving Beibut Shumenov]. King is now required under WBA rules to submit the contracts stipulating the date and site of the fight, duly signed by both fighters, within 20 days, which means that the document must be submitted to the WBA office by March 22nd.
