Report: Haymon blocked venues in California to hurt other promoters

The California State Athletic Commission says that Al Haymon was discovered to be sabotaging rival promoters, namely Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, a practice they shut down "months ago," according to commissioner John Frierson, who spoke to Boxing Insider's Ivan G. Goldman:

"He was holding up the dates at the Forum and at Staples Center. We took that away. ... When I was a youngster, gangsters ran boxing. Blinky Palermo and those guys. Now it's a different crew in ties and suits, and they go around the law."

Haymon's practices saw him hold dates at venues long enough to force other promoters to stage their events elsewhere, then pull out of his allegedly scheduled events once the coast was clear, so to speak.

Last month, Golden Boy filed a $300 million lawsuit against Haymon, alleging that the notoriously shadowy businessman has violated the Muhammad Ali Act, which is not a new claim. Main Events had readied a lawsuit in 2014, only to abandon that later on in the year.