A California jury has awarded Paradigm Sports Management over $5 million in a lawsuit against boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
Conor McGregor’s management company Paradigm Sports has been embroiled in a nasty legal confrontation with Manny Pacquiao for the past two years. Now they’ve walked away with a big victory after a California jury sided against the Filipino boxer.
There was a lot of hype about a potential Manny Pacquiao vs. Conor McGregor boxing match after Paradigm announced the signing of “Pac-Man” in February 2020. But things soured quickly between the two parties after Paradigm alleged Manny accepted a $3.3 million payment, and then walked off to negotiate fights on his own.
Paradigm claimed Pacquaio hid a pre-existing management deal from them when he signed an exclusive two fight deal with the company. They were seeking upwards of $20 million in the case. After proceedings finally wrapped up, a jury submitted a 9-3 verdict in favor of Paradigm, awarding them $1.8 million in addition to the $3.3 million they’d paid Pacquiao.
Paradigm Sports Management adds that the court has Pacquiao owing them an addition 10% interest on the verdict going back three years, plus $2 million in lawyer’s fees. In the end, he could end up paying Paradigm over $8 million dollars.
“We are elated to learn of the jury’s ruling in Paradigm’s favor in our suit against Manny Pacquiao,” Paradigm founder and CEO Audie Attar said in a statement sent to MMA Mania. “The jury plainly found that Pacquiao testified falsely in denying Paradigm’s claims against him, and his excuses for his conduct proves our case that a breach of contract was committed.
“We are appreciative of the court’s time and the jury’s careful attention to the facts of this case. Hopefully, Manny will have learned a lesson from the verdict and will henceforth act with the honesty and integrity that was so lacking in his treatment of Paradigm.”
It’s been a long and winding road to get to this point. In August 2021, Paradigm declared they seek an injunction to stop Manny Pacquiao from fighting Errol Spence. A court sided with Pacquiao in that case, allowing the fight to continue.
While Conor McGregor is technically just the first and foremost amongst clients when it comes to Paradigm, he implied a financial stake in the management company’s affairs after declaring “I’m owed commission off that Manny fight and I want it.”
Spence would pull out of the fight citing a torn retina. Pacquiao would go on to fight and lose to Yordenis Ugas.
In 2023, Paradigm owner Audie Attar once again threatened to legally go after Pacquiao and any promoter working with him for ‘100% of all proceeds’ from fights he might compete in.
“If any promoters, managers, fighters or broadcasting networks are considering entering into an agreement with Manny prior to the trial, they are now on notice that Paradigm will immediately commence an action against them for tortious interference with contract and seek both an injunction and damages,” he wrote in a statement.
Since then, the semi-retired Pacquiao has only fought in one bout since then: an exhibition bout against YouTuber D.K. Yoo in South Korea.