Mikey Garcia suing Top Rank to get out of contract

According to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, WBO Jr. Lightweight champion Mikey Garcia is suing his promoter Top Rank to get out of his promotional contract.

Junior lightweight titleholder Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia, declaring that his promotional agreement with Top Rank is illegal and also expired, sued the company in California State Court in Riverside County on April 8.

The suit, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.com, says that the reason for the action is because of “Top Rank’s unlawful attempt to exploit, own and permanently control” Garcia’s boxing career “as well as Top Rank’s consistent violation of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, a federal statute enacted for the express purpose of protecting professional boxers like Garcia from the exploitive practice of boxing promoters like Top Rank.”

Further, the suit claims that his promotional agreement “improperly provides Top Rank the ability to extend the agreement indefinitely, essentially rendering the contracting fighter an indentured servant of Top Rank.”

“Mikey has no further obligation to Top Rank under the 2009 promotional rights agreement that he signed,” attorney Bryan Freedman, who is representing Garcia, told ESPN.com on Tuesday. “It’s very clear for a number of reasons, but that’s our position. There are a number of reasons why it’s invalid. Even if it hadn’t expired under its own terms, Top Rank acted not only as a promoter but also as a manager under the definition of manager in California and that is against the law. This is an absolute fairness issue.”

The suit uses also claims that Top Rank “violated numerous provisions of both California law and California’s strong public policy to protect California-based boxers from unscrupulous promoters and managers,” while also accusing Top Rank of acting as Garcia’s “unlicensed manager.”

In another claim in the suit, Garcia said Top Rank violated the Ali act by not making federally required disclosures concerning the amount of money the company would make from Garcia’s bouts.

“The act itself has been rarely been litigated but it requires Top Rank to make disclosures to Mikey before his bouts on the amount of money they would be receiving from his bouts. He did not get those disclosures,” Freedman said. “There are a number of different illegalities in this agreement, including how it was extended under different scenarios. If you look at it you’d say he’s done (with the contract) even without any violation of the law.”

The suit claims that Garcia’s contract with Top Rank expired on Feb. 27.

“I’m hopeful that Top Rank will take a look at this and seriously study their agreement. If they do they will agree he doesn’t have an obligation to Top Rank. And if they want to negotiate a new deal they can have a discussion about it. If they don’t it could be a court process. But there is no way you can look at this and say he is still bound to the contract (he signed in 2009).”