After announcing he had signed with Top Rank, WBC Super Middleweight champion David Benavidez has reverted back to Sampson Boxing, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
Benavidez had accepted a check for $250,000 from Top Rank.
“He returned the money, a cashier’s check, with a nice letter saying he wanted to stay with Sampson, so we decided to honor the request even though he signed with us and we wished him good luck,” Top Rank’s Bob Arum said. “The only reason we signed him is because he came up to the office and he said [Lewkowicz and adviser Al Haymon] were doing bad by him and he wanted to sign with us. He said they had breached the contract and he wanted to come with us. He changed his mind. We said fine and he sent us back the $250,000.”
“Look, I say always that he would come home,” Lewkowicz told ESPN. “He is young man who was with no experience, only 21. He was misled by Billy Keane. This Billy Keane tried the same thing with [former middleweight champion] Sergio Martinez several years ago, but Sergio had more experience and he understood the bull—- of a con man like Keane. He took David to Top Rank, he told him that he would make a lot of money, get $250,000 and they make him more famous. He told him that I would still be involved as his co-promoter, and that was a lie. Keane misled Bob Arum, Top Rank and the whole Benavidez family.
“David called me and he apologized, and my lawyers will drop the lawsuit this week. But Billy Keane misled everyone. I will sue him individually and I will teach him a lesson not to steal anymore.”
“At this stage, particularly carrying the ESPN banner with our deal, we are not going resort to litigation when we don’t have to,” Arum said. “We’re not going to bully a kid. He said he made a mistake when he signed with us. You let him go. We don’t need an unhappy kid. David, from what I know, is a lovely kid. He’s a little confused but a lovely kid. He’s not a wise guy. He’s a nice young man who said he made a mistake. OK. We’re not going to hold anything against him. He decided to stay with Sampson and I don’t need the hassle. I don’t hold anything against the kid.”
Lewkowicz said Arum had previously offered him seven figures to bring him in as a co-promoter, but he turned it down only to have Benavidez suddenly sign with Top Rank.
“I turned it down because I believe that finally after 10 years of my company — I gave up Sergio Martinez for many years to Lou DiBella, I give up Manny Pacquiao and Javier Castillejo. I give up Lucas Matthysse to Golden Boy and I finish [with] empty hands,” he said. “Now that I have my own company and I find a superstar in David Benavidez why should I give him away? I am not a poor man. Seven figures doesn’t blind my eyes.
“Now I hope our relationship between Top Rank and Sampson Boxing will work as well as it did before. I have the most respect for Bob Arum.”
