Top Rank sues De La Hoya over Mayorga bout

Top Rank sues De La Hoya over Mayorga bout


LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Top Rank Inc. has sued Oscar De La Hoya, arguing its rights to try to promote his fight against Ricardo Mayorga earlier this month were breached.

Top Rank said in the suit filed Monday that it had the right of last refusal on whether to promote the fight, which brought in $7.6 million in ticket sales and drew 875,000 pay-per-view buyers.


But it said De La Hoya's company, Golden Boy Promotions, offered unfair terms in breach of the spirit of their Feb. 19, 2004 contract.

The lawsuit alleges De La Hoya and Golden Boy breached the agreement by "failing to present to Top Rank an initial reasonable offer with the necessary terms and conditions (and) refusing to negotiate that offer."

"They didn't conform in good faith with the terms," Top Rank chief executive Bob Arum told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "They did what they did just to give themselves a way to blow us out of the water."

Arum estimated his company is owed at least $3 million for the May 6 bout, which De La Hoya won. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.

Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer told the paper Monday he hadn't seen the lawsuit.

"We will do whatever we have to do to prove we've done no wrong," he said.