Report- Holyfield Taking Triller To Arbitration Over No Fight/Payday

Former Undisputed Heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield wants in on the new idea of legendary former fighters cashing in financially on their former success. But, as the Triller app and their “Fight Club” series has continued to drag their feet on his “comeback” exhibition, “The Real Deal” wants some “real money.” And a report Thursday afternoon, says he’s going to arbitration to get it.

Boxing insider Dan Rafael reported for World Boxing News that he’s learned that both Holyfield and his proposed opponent Kevin McBride want money for having their time wasted to this point,

Heavyweight legend @holyfield files demand for arbitration over claim @trillerfight owes him millions for exhibition contracted for vs Kevin McBride that it hasn't rescheduled. McBride team is also pissed off. My @WorldBoxingNews exclusive: https://t.co/DvKj2t6527 #boxing @KenDKM

— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) September 2, 2021

From Rafael’s report,

Holyfield filed a demand for arbitration against Triller Fight Club on Wednesday, claiming breach of contract over an exhibition bout he is under contract for with fellow Mike Tyson conqueror Kevin McBride, but which Triller has refused to reschedule, sources with knowledge of the filing told World Boxing News.

Holyfield, whose contract called for any dispute to be handled via binding arbitration, filed with the California-based firm JAMS — Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services – which has handled several boxing arbitration cases over the years, including the recent Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury case and the Top Rank-Golden Boy dispute over Manny Pacquiao’s contract years ago.

Holyfield has been training for around four months for the fight, only to see it postponed multiple times without a clear idea of when or if it will be rescheduled. He is seeking what is believed to be more than $5 million he is owed for the fight, for which Triller has already missed multiple deadlines to put on, according to a source. 

As we wrote previously, the 58 year old Holyfield was hoping to fight McBride in an exhibition, as part of the Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos Undisputed Lightweight title fight that had been scheduled for June in South Florida. However, that bout was delayed from it’s original date in early June to June 18th due to the scheduling of the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul PPV, also in Miami for June 5th.

Then, Lopez was diagnosed with Covid 19 and experienced symptoms delaying the fight further.

That’s where Holyfield has waited for his bout to be put back on this Summer without an update.

As Rafael further wrote,

Ken Casey, McBride’s longtime friend, and representative in the negotiations is not part of the arbitration, but told World Boxing News on Thursday that their side was very upset over Triller not rescheduling the fight.

“First it was June, then August, then late August, and from I hear (Triller boss Ryan) Kavanaugh doesn’t want to do the fight now, supposedly over an excuse that Kevin isn’t fit to fight,” Casey said. “McBride has had four neurological exams and passed all of them with flying colors. He had exams in Boston, and Florida even saw the Florida commission’s doctors.

“I just suspect they don’t have the money, but they’re messing with the good names and reputations of people like McBride and Holyfield…”

We also wrote earlier this year that Holyfield had been in on Mike Tyson’s talks to have an exhibition last Winter. Ultimately,  Holyfield reportedly wanted $25 million to get in the ring with Tyson. Tyson balked at that and eventually fought Roy Jones instead.

And, now, it looks like Holyfield completely overpriced himself out of that fight and now cannot get Triller to schedule/pay him the reduced money for fighting McBride.

Now, we wait for the arbitration, which can take weeks or months, or a possible settlement to play out.