Frank Warren vowed yesterday to fight Don King in court to ensure that Naseem Hamed meets the American Kevin Kelley at New York's Madison Square Garden in New York on December 19th. The British promoter rejected suggestions that he was prepared to reach an out-of-court settlement.
King's London solicitors, Bird and Bird, will be in the High Court today seeking various injunctions, including one to stop Hamed's WBO world featherweight title defence against Kelley taking place. They will also seek to force Warren, sole promoter of that fight, to comply with his obligations in a partnership agreement with King and will pursue action for various alleged breaches of that contract.
King claims that Warren signed a three-year extension to a three-year contract in February this year in exchange for $1 million. Warren, who contends that King altered the original contract, says he will contest King's legal action in Britain and mount a counterclaim in New York charging King with fraud.
A spokesman for King's solicitors said he felt Warren was willing to make "significant concessions" and that "the indications are that there could be some form of out-of-court settlement".
Warren categorically rejected that suggestion. "I would retire tomorrow rather than do a deal," he said. He also said that King had altered a document to get him.
"It is a lie. If he and his solicitors think this is defamatory, then fine. I'm saying it in Britain, so go ahead and sue me if you dare."
Warren's new long-term deal with the American cable-television network HBO to screen Hamed's fights is seen as the underlying reason for the break-up of the lucrative Warren-King partnership. But Warren thinks King is equally worried about a new business arrangement Warren is entering into with the retired basketball star Magic Johnson.
"Magic Johnson in the US has a reputation as Pele has in football," said Warren. "We respect each other and I know that fighters will flock to be with us and that is what's killing Don.
"Magic and I have been talking since last year, way before I supposedly took a million dollars to sign with Don in the new contract. Sam Chisholm and Trevor East, Sky TV executives, have been involved, so why on earth should I jeopardise that and sign a new agreement with Don? I have the hotel receipts to prove it is true.
"I am so disappointed Don is carrying on like this. It is becoming like a messy divorce, but what Don is doing will come back to haunt him because I will not back down."
The South African heavyweight Frans Botha is suing Don King next month, claiming that King and his son Carl conspired to alter a contract. King is also due to appear in court in the new year for the second hearing of a case in which he is accused of defrauding Lloyd's of London by falsifying insurance claims.
