Before besting Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin, more commonly referred to as GGG, in the ring on September 15th, Canelo Alvarez won a major victory in court.
Alvarez won an appeal when the Florida District Court of Appeals for Miami-Dade County set aside an $8.5 million judgement that a jury decided Alvarez was required to pay former promoter, Felix "Tutico" Zabala Jr. The Court of Appeals held that the $8.5 million in damages for unjust enrichment was too speculative and not supported by substantial competent evidence.
Although Alvarez has avoided the $8.5 million judgement, he will still have to pay Zabala some amount in compensation. That amount, which will be determined by the original trial judge, has not been determined yet. Zabala originally filed the lawsuit in 2011, asserting breach of contract. Zabala claimed that while Alvarez was signed to a four-year promotional contract with him, Golden Boy Productions interfered with the contract and effectively stole Alvarez. It has been widely speculated that Alvarez may have added an indemnification clause during his contract renewal with Golden Boy last year. An indemnification provision would shift the obligation to cover expenses in legal matters such as the this case, from Alvarez to Golden Boy Promotions. Recently, Alvarez has become one of the biggest pay-per-view attractions in boxing.
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This article was written with contributions from Tim Piscatelli.
