Retired boxing billionaire Floyd Mayweather has cancelled his attendance of the much-publicised “King MisuZulu International Boxing Tournament”, which was scheduled for Moses Mabhida stadium tomorrow after the organiser failed to pay his appearance fee.
Sunday World understands that the organiser, Arnold Nododile, tried in vain to coax the American superstar into gracing the event by sending him and his team a fake R5.8-million proof of payment.
The embarrassing news, which will leave Mayweather’s battalion of fans disappointed, came to light when his lawyers – Rosengarten and Fienberg Attorneys – wrote a letter to Nododile, who owns event organising company Mailbox Media. The letter informed Nododile that the American boxing superstar was no longer coming because of failure to pay his appearance fee.
In the letter, which we have seen, the lawyers said that Mayweather’s company, Frontrow TMT, and Nododile’s company, signed an agreement on November 7 to pay the pugilist an undisclosed amount of money to appear at the boxing showdown. The appearance fee, according to the lawyers, excluded travel, transportation and accommodation costs.
The lawyers said as part of the terms and conditions of the contract, Mayweather, 46, who retired from professional boxing without losing a fight, was required to sit in full view of the audience next to the AmaZulu king. But due to Nododile’s tardiness, the boxer fondly known as “Money”, will no longer grace the occasion. “You have breached the agreement in a number of respects, most notably by failing to pay our client the agreed fee for his attendance at the event, which was due, owing and payable to our client over a month ago.
“In addition to this, you have, without our client’s authorisation, utilised our client’s name, image and likeness to promote the event,” reads the letter.
The lawyers further said the agreement in the contract stipulated that only Mayweather-approved images would be permitted in advertising and publicising the event. But the image Nododile used in the posters, they said, falsely insinuated the defence genius will be boxing at the tournament.
“Not only have you infringed Mr Mayweather’s image rights, but you have also violated clause 7 of the agreement,” according to the letter.
The lawyers also said they had learnt Nododile did not obtain permission to use the king’s image to advertise the tournament. They said they, together with Mayweather and his team, tried in vain to contact him to address the matter, but he ignored them.
“The obvious inference is that you are attempting to evade us, and these are the implications of your unlawful conduct. This is unfortunate. In the light of what is set out above, it is our instruction to notify you, as we hereby do, that you have repudiated the agreement which repudiation our client hereby accepts, alternatively our client hereby cancels the agreement with immediate effect.
“For the purpose of clarity, our client will not be attending the event. We further demand that you immediately take down the infringing image, and any other images of our client from any websites and other platforms.”
The lawyers also said Mayweather would take legal action. “You are further required to cease and desist from making any statements, or representing in any manner whatsoever, that our client is in any way affiliated with you or with the event. Our client intends taking further appropriate legal action against you in due course,” according to Mayweather’s representatives.
A source close to the matter alleges Nododile sent the boxer and his team, affectionately known as “The Money Team or TMT”, a fake proof of payment of R5.8-million when they accused him of publicising the event before payment.
“First, he publicised a poster which depicted the king and the boxer to promote the event. But he later removed the boxer from the poster when he failed to pay the money and then disappeared. He is nowhere to be found.”
Meanwhile, Sandile Motha reports that in an apparent damage control, event organisers yesterday issued a statement in which they said the event had been postponed due to security reasons.
“Kindly note that due to security reasons, the tournament is now moved to Tuesday 13
December 2022. This will now be a private event only for VVIPs and strictly by invite and the venue will only be disclosed to invited guests,” said event promoter J4Joy Development and Entertainment in a short statement released yesterday.
MisuZulu’s private secretary, Thami Zulu said the king was not part of the tournament and was not even going to attend it.
He declined to comment on the fake proof of payment and the event posters. Mailbox Media owner Nododile said, “There was no payment made to Mayweather from our company, Mailbox Media. We didn’t pay Mayweather any money in that regard. The only payment we had received was from the funders, but our funders reversed the funds based on some factors raised.”
For the latest entertainment news from Sunday World, click here.
Or read the latest from Shwashwi here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
