US: Antitrust claims dismissed in Arum suit vs Haymon

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s $100 million lawsuit against Premier Boxing Champions creator Al Haymon was dealt a blow when Judge John H. Walter dismissed its antitrust claims, one of the core aspects of the suit, in a written order Friday.

Walter also granted co-defendant Waddell & Reed’s motion to be dismissed from the suit. Waddell & Reed is the Kansas City-based investment group that Haymon lined up to invest more than $400 million from its $40 billion hedge fund in order to bankroll the PBC.

Arum’s lawsuit was filed in July in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. It contends Haymon’s PBC series, for which Haymon has purchased tens of millions of dollars worth of time on a multitude of networks, including ESPN, NBC, CBS and Spike TV, is monopolistic and violates federal antitrust laws as well as the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which makes it illegal to act as both a manager, who has a fiduciary duty to a boxer, and a promoter, who does not. Top Rank alleges that Haymon serves in both capacities for most of the 200-plus fighters in his stable and merely hires what the lawsuit calls “sham” promoters to do his bidding.

Waddell & Reed was dismissed from the suit, with Walter ruling the company did not belong in it.

“The Court concludes that Top Rank has failed to allege sufficient facts to suggest that the Waddell Defendants entered into an illegal agreement to restrain trade,” Walter wrote in his 24-page ruling, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.com.

Full content: SB Nation

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