Top Rank takes Donaire tug-of-war

MANILA, Philippines - Just as Bob Arum had predicted, Top Rank will keep its hold of Filipino superstar Nonito Donaire Jr. At least for the meantime.

“This is a massive victory. A huge victory,” Arum, the chief of Top Rank, told boxingscene.com after arbitrator Daniel Weinstein yesterday ruled that Top Rank, and not Golden Boy, has the rights over Donaire.

The former judge also ruled in favor of Top Rank in a similar tug-of-war with Golden Boy over Manny Pacquiao in 2007. In this case, he said Top Rank is on the side of the law.

An email from Top Rank publicist Fred Sternburg said Weinstein has enjoined Golden Boy from promoting Donaire for the duration of Top Rank’s promotional deal with the boxer.

A couple of weeks ago, news broke out that Donaire, just on his way to superstardom, had signed a four-year promotional deal with Golden Boy, headed by Oscar dela Hoya.

Under the deal, Donaire is bound to receive much more than what he got from Top Rank, starting off with the scheduled May 28 defense of his world bantamweight crown.

But Arum contended that Donaire’s contract with Golden Boy won’t stand because the Filipino fighter still has a live contract with Top Rank up to middle of 2012 or early 2013.

Donaire said his contract with Top Rank had been breached because of the latter’s failure to give him three fights a year since 2008.

But Arum was firm that there was no breach, and that Donaire didn’t get the number of fights he wanted because of several suspensions due to injury.

Technically, Arum said Top Rank and Donaire are just entering the third year of their contract.

Based on Weinstein’s ruling, Top Rank “can promote Donaire’s next bout and continued career,” something that was being worked on until Donaire inked a pact with Golden Boy.

But Golden Boy said the battle over Donaire isn’t over yet, saying that their next move is to establish the fact that Donaire’s contract with Top Rank had been breached.

Because if it was, then Donaire can lay claim that he was already a free agent by the time he signed the deal with Golden Boy.

“They got a preliminary ruling, not that Top Rank’s contract is valid, but that pursuant to a term sheet between Top Rank and Golden Boy, that Golden Boy did not have the right to sign Donaire without a ruling that Donaire was, in fact, free,” said GBP lawyer Judd Burstein.

“That’s the only ruling. So now we’re going to be fighting over whether or not Donaire is free. It’s an open skirmish,” Burstein told boxingscene.com, adding that all that the arbitrator ruled is that because of the peculiar agreement between Top Rank and Golden Boy, neither can sign one’s fighter until it is determined that the contract is no longer binding.

“Our next move is to get a finding that the contract (between Donaire and Top Rank) is no longer binding,” Burstein added.

Still, the Top Rank side said it feels like winning round one of the heavyweight match.

“We are pleased with Judge Weinstein’s carefully considered decision. Top Rank hopes it can put the lawyers and legal fight behind it and return to doing what it does best -- promoting the most talented boxers and the most entertaining boxing matches in the world today,” said Top Rank lawyer Daniel Petrocelli of O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles.

Donaire and his wife, Rachel, left Manila for the United States last Saturday to confer with his own lawyers but did not leave any word behind regarding his sticky situation.