M'baye v. World Boxing Ass'n.

429 F. Supp. 2d 660, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27427, 2006 WL 1195957
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided May 5, 2006·No. 05 Civ. 9581(DC)·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

OPINION

CHIN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Souleymane M’Baye, a professional boxer, brings this action for breach of contract and declaratory relief against defendant the World Boxing Association (the “WBA”). M’Baye contends that the WBA breached its own rules governing the ranking of fighters and the sanctioning of bouts, to his detriment. He moves for preliminary injunctive relief.

The Court conducted a hearing on the motion on February 22 and 23, 2006, as the parties presented evidence and argument. For the reasons set forth below, the motion is granted in part and denied in part. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65, my findings of fact and conclusions of law follow.

*662 FINDINGS OF FACT

A. The WBA and Its Rules

The WBA is one of the major sanctioning organizations in professional boxing; the others are the International Boxing Federation (the “IBF”), the World Boxing Council (the “WBC”), and the World Boxing Organization (the “WBO”). (See Tr. 100). 1 The WBA ranks boxers in various weight categories, including the super lightweight division (140 pounds), the division principally at issue in this case. The WBA also sanctions championship and other bouts. (McAleenan Decl. ¶ 5). To that end, the WBA has promulgated a set of rules and regulations “to guarantee its efficiency and uniformity[,] to approve boxing matches under its control, and to regulate any other matter related to boxing.” (WBA Rule 1.2). 2

The WBA Rules recognize two levels of “champion” in each weight class, a “regular champion” and a “super champion.” 3 A super champion is created when the regular champion defeats the champion of another sanctioning organization to become the champion of more than one sanctioning body at the same time. When this occurs, the regular WBA championship becomes vacant. (WBA Rule 5.2.1.3). Lower-ranked WBA boxers then fight each other for the vacant regular championship, and the net result is that at times there are two WBA “champions” — one regular champion and one super champion. It is generally accepted that when there is both a regular champion and a super champion, the super champion is viewed as the true WBA champion, and the regular championship, though not worthless, is worth significantly less than it would otherwise be worth. (See, e.g., Pl.Ex. 10 (letter from counsel for Vivian Harris to WBA indicating Harris’s position that “there is little point in being a champion in a division when there is a superchampion ... because the general public considers the su-perchampion to be the ‘real champion’ ”); see also Tr. 146).

WBA champions and super champions operate under a complex set of rules that govern when they have to make mandatory title defenses. As a general matter, WBA regular champions must make regular title defenses within predetermined time parameters against whoever is rated as the “Official Contender.” The Official Contender, sometimes also known as a “Mandatory,” is determined by the winner of an “elimination bout.” WBA Rule 9.3.1 provides: “The Championships Chairman ... will notify the two highest ranked available contenders of the obligation to meet in a twelve (12) round elimination bout toward mandatorily boxing the Champion.” One consequence of a champion failing to defend his title against the Official Contender within the required time period is that he may be stripped of his *663 championship belt. (See WBA Rule 9.2(b) (“A Champion’s failure to comply with this obligation [to fight the Official Challenger] will be sufficient cause to ... consider withdrawing recognition of the title.”)).

A super champion need only defend against the WBA regular champion, and the time period within which he must make a mandatory defense is much longer than that of a regular champion. (See WBA Rule 5.2.2). A Unified Champion need only defend his Unified Championship against the WBA regular champion once every eighteen months, an Undisputed Champion once every twenty-one months, and a Super Champion once every twenty-four months. (Id.). By contrast, a regular champion typically must defend against the Official Contender within 120 days of winning the title and every nine months thereafter. (See WBA Rules 5.1.3; 5.1.4).

Fighters pay fees to the WBA to sanction fights, and the WBA also receives a tax from the revenues earned from WBA-sanctioned bouts. (Tr. 98; WBA Rules 5.2.3, 6.6, 9.4,14).

B. M’Baye

M’Baye is a professional boxer who was born and lives in France. (Tr. 88, 90, 91). He is thirty-one years old. (Tr. 93). He started his boxing career in kickboxing, becoming the kickboxing champion of both France and Europe, at the age of seventeen. (Tr. 91-92). He eventually converted to English-style boxing and turned professional in September 1998. (Tr. 92, 94-95). He won the French championship in 2001 and as of the time of the hearing his professional fight record was thirty-three victories and one defeat. (Tr. 94-95). In 2002, he became the European champion in the 140-pound class. (Tr. 96).

C. The Super Lightweight Division

This dispute has its genesis in April 2002, when, in the WBA super lightweight division, a fighter named Kostya Tszyu was the super champion, the regular championship was vacant, and M’Baye was ranked number seven. (Pl.Ex.3). In the months thereafter, (1) Diosbelys Hurtado became the WBA regular champion after he defeated a fighter named Randall Bailey for the vacant championship (Pl.Ex.4); and (2) M’Baye became the Official Contender when he defeated a boxer named Khalid Rahilou. (Tr. 97, 100; PL Exs. 4-5). Under Rule 5.1.3, therefore, M’Baye was entitled to fight Hurtado by September 11, 2002, for the regular championship. (Tr. 102). For reasons that are unclear, however, the WBA granted an exception and allowed Hurtado instead to box a fighter named Vivian Harris, who was ranked fifteenth. (Id.; Pl.Ex. 6). Hence, M’Baye was passed over for a championship match, despite having paid sanctioning fees for the right to fight to be the Official Contender. (See Tr. 98).

Harris defeated Hurtado to win the regular championship, and thereafter, on July 12, 2003, M’Baye — in his lone shot at the championship — -fought Harris and lost a unanimous decision. (Tr. 102). That was the only loss of M’Baye’s professional career. (Tr. 102). Harris’s promoter was a company called Main Events. (CompU 30).

After winning two fights to move back up the WBA rankings, on October 21, 2004, M’Baye once again became the WBA’s Official Contender after he won an elimination bout, for which he paid the WBA a sanctioning fee, against a boxer named Andreas Kotelnik. (Tr. 103; PI. Exs. 12, 13).

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M'baye v. World Boxing Ass'n., 429 F. Supp. 2d 660, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27427, 2006 WL 1195957 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).

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