A U.S. judge found Don King liable for breach of contract over an April 25 world championship cruiserweight bout that was canceled after one of his fighters, Guillermo Jones, failed a drug test.
The judge in Manhattan said Jones’ disqualification for testing positive for the diuretic furosemide, just a few hours before he was scheduled to fight Denis Lebedev in Moscow, “plainly put King in breach” even if the promoter had nothing to do with the failed test.
King had been sued for $2.4 million over the canceled fight by the Russian boxing promoters Andrey Ryabinskiy and Vladimir Hrunov, who do business as World of Boxing LLC. Damages will be determined later. Scheindlin’s decision is dated Oct. 1 and was made public last Thursday.
