Canelo Alvarez Loses Round One Of Lawsuit Claim, Now Has Until September 28th To Amend

By: Hans Themistode

Canelo Alvarez has never met a judge that he hasn’t seen eye to eye with. With questionable scorecards in bouts against Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, back to back Gennadiy Golovkin fights and even Floyd Mayweather, Alvarez can seemingly do no wrong in the eyes of the judges. 

Yet this past Friday afternoon, one judge in particular, didn’t score a victory in his favor. 

Just a few days after filing a lawsuit against DAZN and his own promoter in Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy, Alvarez’s suit was dismissed by the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California. 

With multiple parties named in the suit of Alvarez, it is now up to the pound for pound star and his legal team, The Maloney Firm, to provide more information on the accused. 

“Because the Complaint alleges the citizenship of the LLC defendants as if they were corporations, rather than as limited liability companies, the Complaint has not properly alleged the citizenship of those parties,” said district judge Percy Anderson. “Absent unusual circumstances, a party seeking to invoke diversity jurisdiction should be able to allege affirmatively the actual citizenship of the relevant parties. As a result, Plaintiffs’ allegations are not sufficient to invoke this Court’s diversity jurisdiction.”

Issues between Alvarez and both DAZN along with Golden Boy, stem from one long standing matter. Although Alvarez signed a contract in 2018 worth $365 million dollars with the streaming company, a record setting amount at the time, he has yet to actually see his contract. The aforementioned contract is between DAZN and Golden Boy and when Alvarez is set to enter the ring, Golden Boy issues him his payment. 

This setup has long bothered Alvarez, and despite multiple attempts at viewing his own contract, he has been denied. 

The attorney of the Mexican native however, was able to gain a copy of his agreement and found something eye catching.

DAZN has been heavily against most of the opponents Alvarez has chosen to face. Matchups against WBO super middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders and WBA belt holder Callum Smith were turned down by the streaming company. The reasoning behind their refusal to back those contests is because they would rather Alvarez face a “premier” opponent. The company eyed matchups with UFC stars Khabib Nurmagomedov and Jorge Masvidal as well as the promoter of Alvarez in Oscar De La Hoya as individuals who fit that criteria. 

In addition to opponent selection, DAZN has decided to massively reduce the roughly $35 million per fight he is owed as well. A condition that Alvarez was willing to acquiesce to. His lawyers however, believe that Alvarez doesn’t have to follow any of those terms as none of it is found in his contract.

“Alvarez’ opponents would be mutually selected by [Alvarez] and [Golden Boy Promotions], subject to [Alvarez’s] final approval, not to be unreasonably withheld,” according to language in his contract.

While Alvarez may seem to have all of the firepower that he needs to move forward, a judge has ruled that both he and his legal team still have more work to do before they can ultimately move forward and have until September 28th to do so. 

“Accordingly, the Court dismisses Plaintiffs’ Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” judge Anderson stated in the dismissal. “A district court may, and should, grant leave to amend when it appears that subject matter jurisdiction may exist, even though the complaint inadequately alleges jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1653; Trentacosta v. Frontier Pacific Aircraft Industries, Inc., 813 F.2d 1553, 1555 (9th Cir. 1987). Therefore, the Court grants Plaintiffs leave to amend the Complaint to establish federal subject matter jurisdiction.”