Ricardo Mayorga suing Don King

Former welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga is suing his promoter Don King for failing to arrange fights, and for violating the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act by setting up a conflict of interest when King appointed his son, Carl, as Ricardo's manager.

“Our client is being held in a state of professional limbo,” said Mayorga’s attorney, Carlos Gonzalez, of Diaz Reus & Targ, which specializes in international law and has represented soccer federations in Latin America. “He hasn’t boxed much lately because Don King hasn’t gotten him any matches.”

According to the suit, Mayorga, a citizen of Nicaragua, had a contract that guaranteed him three matches from June 2008 to June 2009, unless he became a world champion. The complaint states that Mayorga was offered only one bout – to fight Alfredo Angulo on Feb. 14.

The lawsuit says Mayorga’s purse for the first bout was to be $400,000, unless the parties agreed otherwise. The suit seeks a judge’s ruling on whether the contract is still valid and an unspecified amount of damages.

“He’s wasting what would be potentially the most profitable years of his career,” Gonzalez said of Mayorga.

It might be hard for Mayorga to win this case considering King had Mayorga that fight with Angulo in February. You will recall that reports from his backing out accused Mayorga of essentially trying to hold King up for more money. Also, Mayorga fought Shane Mosley last September, which obviously falls into the June 2008-June 2009 timeframe. Had Mayorga fought Angulo in February as was signed, he really could have gotten a third fight in that period.

This is another case of Mayorga looking for money out of King, it seems to me. I'm not saying Don King is someone you should admire, or that King hasn't had some questionable and downright morally offensive claims against him in his long career as a promoter, but Mayorga is no saint, either. I'd say take this whole thing with a bucket of salt.