Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be forced to pay up for an alleged contract he had in place when he signed with Golden Boy Promotions.
Barring an appeal, Canelo Alvarez will have to hand over a big chunk of change to a boxing promoter that claimed to have him under contract when he signed with Golden Boy. Alvarez, now one of the biggest stars in the sport, allegedly signed an exclusive promotional agreement with All-Star Boxing in 2008. When he then signed a deal with Golden Boy, ASB filed suit in 2010.
After a long and drawn-out process, the case finally went to trial this month. ASB was basically claiming that Golden Boy poached Canelo, and accused them of interference. You can read all the details in this Bad Left Hook article. In the end, Golden Boy was found to have done nothing wrong, and ASB was ordered to pay their legal fees.
Canelo wasn’t so lucky though – his defense that the ASB contract was signed at a time when he couldn’t speak English, and didn’t know what he was signing, did not hold up to scrutiny. He was ordered to pay the promoter a whopping 8.5 million dollars.
Golden Boy issued a press release in regards to the decision:
“We are extremely pleased that not only did the jury find that no contract ever existed between Canelo and All-Star Boxing, but issued a judgment against All-Star boxing and ordered them to pay Golden Boy’s substantial legal fees.
“Over the last five-plus years, many questioned why we wouldn’t just settle the case before trial. The answer is simple: We would not be extorted. It was clear from the beginning that neither Canelo nor Golden Boy Promotions had acted inappropriately in any way. We are grateful that the jury was able to see that.
“However, it is absurd to think that All-Star Boxing provided anywhere near that amount of value that the jury awarded under a separate claim. We will appeal this part of the decision, and are confident we will win, just as we did on the contract dispute.
“Outside of appealing the financial damages, we now look forward to putting this episode behind us and working with Canelo to continue his meteoric rise though the boxing ranks.”
Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) is coming off a huge knockout win over Amir Khan last month. Negotiations for a bout between him and Gennady Golovkin appear to be at a standstill at the moment.