After listening to two hours of oral arguments Wednesday, a federal judge said he hopes to have a decision on Thursday over a potential injunction attempting to stop Floyd Mayweather from fighting Mike Zambidis in a six-round exhibition Saturday in Greece.
The Mayweather-Zambidis fight was thrown into question last week after CSI, an event production company, filed a breach of contract lawsuit and emergency injunction application against Mayweather last week in the Southern District of New York.
The suit alleges by agreeing to fight Zambidis, Mayweather violated his exclusive contract with CSI for an eight-round exhibition against Mike Tyson and a professional fight against Manny Pacquiao this year. CSI applied for an emergency injunction to block the Mayweather-Zambidis fight, alleging if it happens it could cause irreparable harm to the company. Mayweather had initially been scheduled to fight Tyson this spring, but Tyson had to pull out and potentially reschedule due to injury.
On Wednesday, Judge Vernon S. Broderick asked multiple questions of CSI attorney Judd Burstein and Mayweather counsel Melissa Glass, focusing on five issues:
• Whether Tyson would be medically cleared for a potential fight within the contracted rescheduling period.
• Whether there was a concrete date for a Mayweather-Tyson fight and whether any publicity had been done surrounding it.
• Potential future timing for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
• Television distribution, ticket sales and the parameters for Saturday's fight against Zambidis.
• Appropriate bond if the judge granted the temporary restraining order.
In oral arguments Wednesday, Burstein said the proposed date for Tyson-Mayweather would be Sept. 26, with a possible Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in January 2027. He indicated Netflix might show interest in broadcasting the Pacquiao fight, but said that no decisions had been made. Burstein claimed Tyson was medically cleared and that the fight would occur outside the United States. He argued CSI and Tyson were prepared to go forward in September, but said they can't do anything if Mayweather doesn't agree to actually fight.
Glass said there is no current television distributor for Mayweather-Zambidis due to CSI's threats of legal action and ticket sales for the fight in Athens had been halted in March.
In a written response to the injunction application filed Wednesday before oral arguments, Mayweather's attorneys claimed key factors for his contracted fight against Tyson never materialized, including a locked-in venue, funding and logistics,
Mayweather's manager, Walter Jordan, said in a supporting statement filed Wednesday morning that "CSI never reached a point where it was fully prepared to proceed with the Tyson event."
In her oral arguments, Glass argued there were questions about the validity of CSI's contract with Mayweather and said that CSI had not proved irreparable injury. Responding to Burstein questioning why Mayweather had not filed a statement, Glass said that Mayweather was not required to provide one in the case.
Glass said that CSI didn't file the suit and injunction application until a week before the bout despite knowing for months about the existence of the Zambidis fight.
"The existence of, or the fact that there is a Zambidis fight -- the cat is out of the bag," Glass said.
She added: "Any reputational harm that CSI claims it would suffer from public evidence that they do not in fact have the exclusive rights that they've contended that they've had or contradictory statements from Mr. Mayweather regarding CSI's reported exclusivity, those statements have already occurred. That's not something that's going to be happening in the future."
Burstein argued Wednesday that allowing the Zambidis fight to go forward would cause irreparable harm and "incalculable damage" to CSI, pointing to the exclusivity of the Mayweather contract and arguing that losing that would be "devastating" to the company's reputation. He also said the potential for an injury or poor performance by Mayweather could have an impact on future fights.
Glass said any potential claims CSI might have could be handled through monetary damages instead of an injunction.
The oral arguments from Mayweather's attorneys mirrored their written response. The attorneys argued CSI has "no explanation" for waiting until eight days before the Mayweather-Zambidis fight to file the injunction application, that CSI operated as an unlicensed boxing promoter and that the only reason the Zambidis fight is in question is because Mayweather's exhibition against Tyson was postponed.
The response claims Mayweather had agreed to the Zambidis fight in May 2025, before agreements were made for either the Tyson or Pacquiao fights. The initial suit claims Mayweather received $150,000 from CSI for going through medicals for the Tyson fight and then posted he was fighting Zambidis the next day, which Burstein said CSI did not allow to occur.
The response also claimed CSI wanted the Tyson fight to take place in September, when Mayweather was planning on fighting Pacquiao. When Mayweather and EverWonder declined to postpone the Mayweather fight, the response alleged CSI threatened legal action. It eventually led to Netflix, which was going to broadcast Mayweather-Pacquiao, to "withdraw from the event." Messages left with Netflix seeking comment were not immediately returned to ESPN.
The initial suit claims CSI reached a deal with Mayweather's representatives in August for a fight with Tyson and then in November for a potential fight with Pacquiao. CSI alleges Mayweather and his representatives then entered into a separate agreement with another company, EverWonder, to put on the Pacquiao fight. Despite the initial double-booking, Burstein told ESPN last week that CSI and EverWonder reached an agreement to allow the Pacquiao fight to continue on Netflix along with CSI.
It is then, the suit claims, CSI learned about the Mayweather-Zambidis fight and that "would violate" the company's rights with Mayweather.
Mayweather filed for a termination of his CSI contract on June 9, according to his attorney's response.
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