A California court has overturned the decision in a civil lawsuit filed by Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao against Paradigm Sports Management (PSM), according to recent reports. The sports agency originally filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Pacquiao, seeking “recovery of an advance payment of $3.3 million.”
Last year, Pacquiao was ordered to pay Paradigm $5.1 million, including $3.3 million for breach of contract and $1.8 million for breach of implied good faith. After the ruling, Pacquiao's lawyers filed a motion alleging that Paradigm was not qualified to be his manager under California law.
California Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm issued the tentative ruling on Wednesday. “The Court grants Mr. Pacquiao a cause of action for declaratory relief and declares the contract invalid for illegality,” Schwarm wrote in his ruling.
“While the ruling is not yet final, we are pleased that the court has issued a tentative decision in Mr. Pacquiao's favor on the legal issues,” Pacquiao's lawyer Jason Aniel said in praising the new ruling.
“The court found that the contract that Paradigm Sports Management sought to enforce against Mr. Pacquiao was illegal because Paradigm was not properly licensed,” he added.
Meanwhile, PSM lawyer Judd Burstein said he would appeal the ruling. “I have a lot of respect for the judge, but I don't agree with this ruling,” Burstein said in a media report. “I don't agree with him on the fundamental issues, but he's a judge. I've won on appeal many cases that I lost in court, and I believe this will be one of them,” he added.
“PSM Audie Utter testified that he did not hold a California boxer manager's license in 2019 and could not recall whether he held such a license in 2020 and 2021,” the report states. “It was noted that Utter held a manager's license in California from April 14, 2016 to April 30, 2017, but allowed his license to lapse after failing to complete required annual renewals.”
The two signed their first contract on February 8, 2020, and a partnership agreement in October of the same year. Pacquiao was originally scheduled to fight Conor McGregor, who was also signed by PSM, but the match did not take place. Ultimately, the eight-division world champion fought Yordenis Ugas in his final professional bout.
Other reports have said Pacquiao is planning to hold an exhibition bout in Japan later this month and is also targeting a fight with American boxer Mario Barrios, the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion, later this year.
