NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A U.S. judge found boxing promoter Don King liable for breach of contract over an April 25 World Boxing Association cruiserweight championship bout that was canceled after one of his fighters, challenger Guillermo Jones, failed a drug test.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said Jones’ disqualification for testing positive for the diuretic furosemide, just a few hours before he was scheduled to fight Denis Lebedev in Moscow, “plainly put King in breach” even if the promoter had nothing to do with the failed test.
King had been sued for $2.4 million over the canceled fight by the Russian boxing promoters Andrey Ryabinskiy and Vladimir Hrunov, who do business as World of Boxing LLC.
Damages will be determined later. Scheindlin’s decision is dated Oct. 1 and was made public yesterday.
Don King Productions and King’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to similar requests.
In seeking a dismissal, King claimed it was Ryabinskiy who canceled the fight, though the WBA was prepared to let it go on.
The 83-year-old King also said his fighters are “grown men who make their own decisions,” and that he could not have been expected to monitor Jones so closely as to effectively “imprison” him, to keep him from using a banned substance.
