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Former Top Rank “fixer” Billy Keane has sued the fight promotion and its president Todd duBoef, claiming that they stiffed him on “millions” in promised pay and levied some wild allegations about how the company handled its relationship with ESPN.
Front Office Sports previously reported that ESPN recently informed Top Rank that it would not renew their rights deal. Top Rank has aired on ESPN since 2017 and its final event will be in late July.
Top Rank was founded by legendary promoter Bob Arum in 1973. Arum is 93 and much of the day-to-day business is run by his stepson duBoef.
Keane’s suit describes himself as a “fixer” who was brought into Top Rank to serve the dual role of helping the promotion land fighters and managing the relationship with ESPN. Keane’s lawsuit claims breach of contract, promissory fraud, and unjust enrichment.
The suit—which was filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California—claims Keane “has suffered material consequential damages in excess of $25 million.”
In 2021, emails indicating that duBoef was attempting to affect a purse featuring Top Rank fighter Teofimo Lopez by stifling other competing bids leaked in The Athletic. According to the suit, after this became public and Top Rank lost the bid to promote Lopez for a fight, duBoef instructed Keane to tell ESPN executives that the situation wasn’t duBoef’s fault.
“Todd DuBoef you won’t have me back. Get ready because we going to war! You prick. How dare you try to cock block my purse bid,” Lopez wrote publicly at the time.
Keane claims duBoef wanted him to go to extreme lengths to try to get Lopez to stop sniping at him in public.
“DuBoef asked Keane to make contact with Lopez to try and smooth things over so he would stop publicly criticizing him,” the lawsuit says. “He advised Keane to pretend to work for ESPN and assure Lopez that ESPN was very happy with him and excited to continue working together.”
The suit also claims duBoef “asked Keane to have ESPN employees fired.” A source told FOS that the employees were programming executive Matt Kenny and boxing reporter Mike Coppinger, who wrote the story at The Athletic that incensed Lopez before joining ESPN.
The suit says Top Rank’s deal with ESPN was worth about $90 million per year.
One of the big fights that Keane said he helped facilitate was the rematch between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. Fury was managed by Daniel Kinahan, a promoter from Ireland with alleged mob ties, and Keane had to navigate this relationship as well as a partnership with Fox and Al Haymon’s PBC on Wilder’s side, plus getting ESPN to pony up millions more to support Fury’s purse.
“When Keane discussed Kinahan’s proposal with duBoef, duBoef provided very specific instructions,” the suit says. “He authorized Keane to move forward, but he admonished Keane that ESPN could not find out that Kinahan was involved. According to duBoef, the Irish press had reported that Kinahan was the head of a drug cartel, and if duBoef were linked to Kinahan, ESPN might be forced to terminate their deal.”
At one point, the suit alleges, Fury had cold feet about the fight and wanted ESPN to guarantee his payment in the event of any chicanery from Top Rank. Kinahan ultimately stepped in and personally guaranteed Fury’s purse, according to the lawsuit.
Big-name fighters Keane recruited for Top Rank have included Fury and Amir Khan. The suit says Arum acknowledged Keane publicly for landing Khan and Fury.
Keane claims Arum lured him to join Top Rank by promising him 10% of the pay of any boxer he signed. This setup was ostensibly more appealing than managing fighters because Keane would no longer have to chase them for pay or negotiate his fees. duBoef did ultimately ask Keane to reduce this fee to 5%, the suit alleges, and that Top Rank eventually stopped paying him altogether.
Keane came up in the boxing business through his affiliation with legendary trainer Freddie Roach, and worked in Manny Pacquiao’s camp. Keane later became a manager, whose clients included Julio César Chávez Jr.
Keane is being represented by Patricia Glaser and Harrison Dossick of Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP.
Top Rank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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