Golden Boy's Haymon lawsuit moving forward and heading to court

The business practices of Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions may be exposed sooner rather than later, as the notoriously secretive boxing power broker's attempt to settle a lawsuit by Golden Boy Promotions out of court failed on Thursday, with a judge ruling that the $300 million antitrust suit cannot be settled in arbitration.

That means that there could be depositions, actual court hearings and appearances, and with part of Golden Boy's suit alleging that Haymon violates the Muhammad Ali Act, that could be a very big deal, something that could potentially slam the brakes on Haymon's PBC brand, if Golden Boy's claims were proven correct.

Top Rank's Bob Arum, whose company also is suing Haymon, told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, "Everything is going to come out." Considering the grudge that Arum has held with Haymon for years now, and the one that Oscar De La Hoya and his remaining team at Golden Boy picked up when they removed Richard Schaefer from his position and watched a load of Haymon-controlled fighters with no Golden Boy contracts flee.

Kathy Duva's Main Events filed a similar suit in 2014 against Haymon, but that was settled out of court later in the year before anything significantly moved forward. Golden Boy and Top Rank, however, have greater resources to battle Haymon in court and stand their ground, and given their larger profiles in the sport, are no doubt feeling the squeeze more than anyone else. Top Rank lost Julio Cesar Chavez Jr to Haymon this year, and are trying to keep Mikey Garcia from also joining Haymon's stable. Golden Boy's roster was eviscerated by the departure of Schaefer and the Haymon-advised fighters, losing the likes of Amir Khan, Deontay Wilder, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz, Devon Alexander, Andre Berto, Robert Guerrero, Marcos Maidana, and others.