LAS VEGAS (AP) – Boxing fans across the country and their lawyers are calling the hyped-up fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr a fraud and want their money back, and then some.
At least 32 class action lawsuits allege Pacquiao should have disclosed a shoulder injury to boxing fans before the fight, which Mayweather won in a unanimous decision after 12 lacklustre rounds that most fans thought didn’t live up to the hype.
Fight of the century? More like fraud of the century, the lawsuits contend.
“The fight was not great, not entertaining, not electrifying. It was boring, slow and lacklustre,” according to a lawsuit filed in Texas alleging racketeering, a claim usually reserved for organised crime.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Flights Beer Bar near Los Angeles International Airport in California said Pacquiao and his promoter’s actions were, “nothing but a cash-grab”. The bar paid $2 600 to broadcast the fight.
As for that grabbed cash, the fighters are each expected to earn more than $100 million, Mayweather more than Pacquiao, and HBO and Showtime broke records raking in more than $400 million from 4.4 million paying to watch the pay-per-view broadcast.
Those 4.4 million paid up to $100 each to watch the fight, and the lawsuits are seeking their money back.
It isn’t as easy as showing a receipt and demanding a refund, though. A federal panel of judges will likely first need to decide if the cases from multiple states and Puerto Rico should be consolidated into one. From there, a judge would have to decide whether to certify them as class actions or not.
What’s sought in each is the same: a jury trial and at least $5 million in damages, the threshold for federal class actions.
But the defendants differ. All include Pacquiao and his promotions team but some add Mayweather and his representatives along with HBO, Showtime and cable companies.
Representatives for Pacquiao and Top Rank Promotions, HBO and Showtime had no comment to offer on the lawsuits and Mayweather Promotions did not return multiple phone messages.
