Golden Boy & De La Hoya Sue Schaefer for $50 million:
Since Richard Schaefer departed from Golden Boy Promotions, after months of talk of a growing feud between himself and Oscar De La Hoya, it was only a matter of time before lawsuits began flying and the process of extensive legal wrangling took hold. Now, that time has officially begun, and things could get quite interesting for spectators, as well as quite expensive for stakeholders before all is said and done.
The first shots fired have come from Golden Boy, as they have filed a $50 million lawsuit against Schaefer, according to ESPN. The $50 million suit is actually an arbitration claim, and will be settled out of court. This is because Schaefer’s contract with the company specifically includes a clause that should there ever be lawsuits filed, that the matter would be handled privately, out of court and through an arbitrator.
Speaking of that contract, it’s likely one of the focal points of the suit itself. Schaefer signed a long-term contract with Golden Boy in the spring of 2012, and Golden Boy believes that contract to remain valid through 2018.
The rest of the lawsuit — although this is speculation at that point, and has not been publicly declared — likely focuses on the idea that Schaefer and Al Haymon had been making a bit of a power play or internal coup of sorts over the years. Many perceived “Golden Boy” fighters did not actually have contracts with the promotional company. Instead, they were only contracted to manager Haymon, and Schaefer would set up cards with those fighters without having any contractual assurances from them.
With Schaefer gone, Floyd Mayweather following him out the door, and the rest of Haymon’s fighters likely doing the same, suddenly Golden Boy’s standing has been quickly and drastically slashed. That certainly would represent a great deal of lost money in terms of direct revenue generation, as well as the company’s long-term value and positioning itself within the sport.
Clearly, this is only step one of what could be an exceedingly messy and lengthy divorce.
