lozkin
02-25-2009, 04:52 PM
Calzaghe 'believed ****** had taken advantage of him for years'
The undefeated world boxing ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) champion Joe Calzaghe ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) believed his former manager and promoter Frank ****** had taken advantage of him for years, his lawyer told the High Court today.
Ian Mill QC, representing Calzaghe, said in papers put before the judge, Mr Justice Wyn Williams, that by November 2007 the 10-year relationship between the pair "had clearly deteriorated significantly, at least as far as Mr Calzaghe was concerned".
"Mr Calzaghe felt that Mr ****** had taken advantage of him for a number of years and Mr Calzaghe wanted to extricate himself from his management and promotional relationships with Mr ******."
******, through his company Sports Network, is claiming £1m damages from the boxer for breach of an alleged oral agreement in January 2008 that he should promote further fights after an existing contract expired.
Calzaghe denies there was any agreement. He is claiming $3,897,505 (£2.7m) in damages from ****** who, he says, has not paid him his profit share from the Bernard Hopkins fight in April 2008.
Mill said it was "inherently implausible" that an important agreement for ****** to promote more fights for Calzaghe would not have been recorded in writing, as all previous contracts had been.
"It is inherently implausible that Mr Calzaghe, who was utterly disillusioned with Mr ****** by this time, would have agreed to allow Sports Network to promote him for any future fights."
He said it was only after the boxer brought in accountants to audit his profit share from the Hopkins fight that ****** alleged there had been a verbal contract to promote more bouts.
"This timing suggests that the alleged oral agreement was a fabrication created for the purpose of justifying the non-payment to Mr Calzaghe of his monies. Mr ****** is seeking to ensure that Mr Calzaghe receives no part of the monies which are indisputably owed to him."
Mill said that, under a 2004 contract between the boxer and Sports Network, Calzaghe agreed to a "minimum" purse of £600,000 for four fights for the super- middleweight title.
"Mr Calzaghe in fact only ever received the guaranteed minimum purse for his fights under this contract."
He added: "Mr Calzaghe increasingly felt that having Mr ****** and Sports Network as his manager and promoter operated to his financial detriment."
When the boxer was about to defend his title against Jeff Lacy, he was told by ****** that if he wanted it to go ahead, he would have to sign a written contract giving Sports Network the right to promote another three fights, said Mill.
Calzaghe felt he had little choice but to sign, said Mill. But after this contract came to an end, ****** asked him to sign a new contract with the "clear threat" that if he did not, he would lose a television broadcasting deal.
"Mr Calzaghe was extremely unhappy with, and resented, the way in which Mr ****** had manipulated him into signing this new promotional contact."
On 19 April 2008, Calzaghe won the fight under that contract against Hopkins for which he received from Sports Network £1m and US tax payment of $1,728,000 (£1.2m), said Mill.
"He has received nothing further," said Mill.
Calzaghe is expected to give evidence tomorrow.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]******-high-court
The undefeated world boxing ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) champion Joe Calzaghe ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) believed his former manager and promoter Frank ****** had taken advantage of him for years, his lawyer told the High Court today.
Ian Mill QC, representing Calzaghe, said in papers put before the judge, Mr Justice Wyn Williams, that by November 2007 the 10-year relationship between the pair "had clearly deteriorated significantly, at least as far as Mr Calzaghe was concerned".
"Mr Calzaghe felt that Mr ****** had taken advantage of him for a number of years and Mr Calzaghe wanted to extricate himself from his management and promotional relationships with Mr ******."
******, through his company Sports Network, is claiming £1m damages from the boxer for breach of an alleged oral agreement in January 2008 that he should promote further fights after an existing contract expired.
Calzaghe denies there was any agreement. He is claiming $3,897,505 (£2.7m) in damages from ****** who, he says, has not paid him his profit share from the Bernard Hopkins fight in April 2008.
Mill said it was "inherently implausible" that an important agreement for ****** to promote more fights for Calzaghe would not have been recorded in writing, as all previous contracts had been.
"It is inherently implausible that Mr Calzaghe, who was utterly disillusioned with Mr ****** by this time, would have agreed to allow Sports Network to promote him for any future fights."
He said it was only after the boxer brought in accountants to audit his profit share from the Hopkins fight that ****** alleged there had been a verbal contract to promote more bouts.
"This timing suggests that the alleged oral agreement was a fabrication created for the purpose of justifying the non-payment to Mr Calzaghe of his monies. Mr ****** is seeking to ensure that Mr Calzaghe receives no part of the monies which are indisputably owed to him."
Mill said that, under a 2004 contract between the boxer and Sports Network, Calzaghe agreed to a "minimum" purse of £600,000 for four fights for the super- middleweight title.
"Mr Calzaghe in fact only ever received the guaranteed minimum purse for his fights under this contract."
He added: "Mr Calzaghe increasingly felt that having Mr ****** and Sports Network as his manager and promoter operated to his financial detriment."
When the boxer was about to defend his title against Jeff Lacy, he was told by ****** that if he wanted it to go ahead, he would have to sign a written contract giving Sports Network the right to promote another three fights, said Mill.
Calzaghe felt he had little choice but to sign, said Mill. But after this contract came to an end, ****** asked him to sign a new contract with the "clear threat" that if he did not, he would lose a television broadcasting deal.
"Mr Calzaghe was extremely unhappy with, and resented, the way in which Mr ****** had manipulated him into signing this new promotional contact."
On 19 April 2008, Calzaghe won the fight under that contract against Hopkins for which he received from Sports Network £1m and US tax payment of $1,728,000 (£1.2m), said Mill.
"He has received nothing further," said Mill.
Calzaghe is expected to give evidence tomorrow.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]******-high-court