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By Bryanna Fissori
Legal Analyst
Days until his next bout, welterweight Chris Algieri (19-0) has been hit with a lawsuit via former manager Humberto Romero. The complaint alleges that Romero is entitled to $350,000, which is approximately 15 percent of the purses from Algieri’s recent bouts.
Romero began managing Algieri in April of 2010, but was released in February of 2013 after securing six bouts before the fighter sustained career-pausing injuries. Romero claims these injuries, which kept Algieri out of the ring for 18 months were cause for a contract extension lasting through this fall. One of the injuries included a metacarpal hand injury.
“At the time of the unilateral termination Romero had already invested three years of ‘sweat equity’ into building Algieri’s reputation and standing within the boxing community,” the suit says.
The general definition for sweat equity is a non-monetary contribution such as time and effort, which increases value of a project or business.
Romero’s contract with Algieri made him the exclusive right to negotiate for boxing matches, endorsements and personal appearances. The former manager claims that he is responsible for building Algieri’s career including six fights, and that the fighter is now using unlicensed representatives. Each state has different licensing requirements for managers and promoters. Algieri had eight fights since the inception of the 2010 contract with Romero, four of which were held after the 2013 contract termination.
If the amount of monetary compensation available to Romero is calculated on sweat equity he will have to prove that his actions were responsible, at least partially, for Algieri’s securing his most recent fights and endorsements, which Romero requests a percentage of.
Algieri will face “The Russian Rocky” Ruslan Provodnikov next weekend on HBO. Romero is requesting a $250,000 cut from the bout.
