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A lawsuit filed by Paradigm Sports and its founder Audie Attar against Manny Pacquiao is set to go to trial on March 3, 2023.
The trial date comes almost two years after Attar filed a ‘breach of contract’ lawsuit against the former eight-division champion at an Orange County, California courthouse.
As per the lawsuit, Manny Pacquiao and Paradigm Sports Management spoke in February 2021 with the intention of securing a four-fight deal with sports streaming service DAZN, the first of which was a bout against Mikey Garcia.
Pacquiao vs. Garcia was never finalized even though Garcia claimed that the bout was agreed upon in 2021. Instead, the Filipino boxer announced a super-fight with Errol Spence Jr., headlining a Fox Sports pay-per-view event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The news of this announcement compelled Attar to protect their investment and interests.
Audie Attar alleges that Pacquiao failed to fulfill his contractual obligations that came with a $3.3 million advance.
The fighter’s legal team responded with this statement:
“The complaint filed by Paradigm Sports in California state court on Friday is a frivolous effort to interfere with Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming mega fight, and it can and will fail for numerous reasons, Moreover, had Manny Pacquiao known that Paradigm Sports appears to have had no intention of fulfilling its contractual obligations, he never would have entered into any relationship with them.”
Paradigm Sports themselves issued a statement regarding how they plan to seek restitution to compensate for their alleged losses:
“Once Paradigm wins at trial in March, we will cut off 100% of Manny’s opportunities to earn money in the United States from any source because any revenue he generates will be attached to his judgment... Additionally, Paradigm will aggressively pursue enforcement of its judgment in any foreign country where Manny seeks to fight."
A hearing for the motion is set to take place on February 14, while the case is expected to proceed with a trial date of March 3.
Manny Pacquiao signs with Rizin
Manny Pacquiao announced that he signed with the Japanese fight promotion, Rizin in December 2022 with plans to compete for the organization in 2023. Pacquiao made the announcement in the ring during Rizin's New Year's Eve card at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.
The former welterweight champion's last fight was an exhibition bout against YouTuber DK Yoo that took place on December 11, 2022.
Without revealing too many details, Pacquiao stated that he would be facing a Japanese fighter. As per ESPN, the fight will be an exhibition-style contest similar to Floyd Mayweather's recent bouts.
Check out the full video below:
