Judge dismisses Al Haymon's bid to toss $100M Top Rank lawsuit

The litigious battle between Bob Arum and Al Haymon wages on as a federal judge just dismissed a motion to toss Top Rank's $100M lawsuit against Haymon. The case will now head to the discovery phase, and possibly a jury trial should things get that far.

To quickly recap the case, in July 2015 Top Rank filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleging that Al Haymon's newly-created Premier Boxing Champions series was monopolistic in nature and in violation of the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. The Ali Act makes it illegal to function in the capacities of both a boxing manager and promoter, since a manager has a fiduciary responsibility to a fighter and a promoter does not.

Top Rank says this is exactly what Al Haymon is doing with his stable of 200+ fighters, while alleging that the promoters on record for his PBC events are merely a "sham" who carry out his bidding. A major part of Top Rank's suit was dealt a blow, however, when a federal judge had dismissed the antitrust claims in the suit as well as dismissing Haymon's investors (Waddell & Reed) from the lawsuit entirely. Despite that setback for Top Rank, that judge did allow them to file an amended complaint, which they did, and now that will go forward despite Haymon attempting to have the entire lawsuit dismissed.

Haymon similarly faces a $300M lawsuit from Golden Boy Promotions on essentially the same grounds and it looks like all sides are prepared to dig in for the long haul.