The case can be made that those who conceived and arranged the 2015 boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao deserve to be compensated.
After all, the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas — won by Mayweather — set records with 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and $72 million in ticket sales.
So it’s no surprise that long after both boxers slipped comfortably into (temporary) retirement, legal fights endured over even slim slices of that cash-stuffed pie.
For 10 years — and counting — lawyers and judges have attempted to determine what claimants are due and whether Pacquiao in particular suffered reputational damage along the way.
Meanwhile, retirement is relegated to the rear view and a rematch Sept. 19 at the Las Vegas Sphere will be streamed live on Netflix. Mayweather is 49 and Pacquiao 47, yet another staggering payday serves as a great motivator.
And court battles continue. The latest salvo was a filing by Pacquiao this week in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing respected law firms and their restaurant server client of attempting to extort millions of dollars from the boxer by fabricating a verbal agreement and falsely accusing him of texting photos of dismembered bodies in a “terror campaign.”
Gabriel Rueda was a waiter at Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood when he sued Pacquiao in 2016, claiming he was owed a finder’s fee of $8.6 million for connecting the boxer’s trainer Freddie Roach with then-CBS president Leslie...
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