Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez has filed a lawsuit against Oscar De La Hoya, Golden Boy Promotions and streaming service DAZN for their failure to deliver suitable terms for his next fight.
The Mexican boxer signed a mega 11-fight $365million deal in 2018 but three fights into it Canelo is alleging a breach of contract.
The 30-year-old is suing for breach of contract, intentional and negligent interference with a contract, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, causing damages of at least $280m.
The dispute is over the payment of the $35m he is guaranteed per fight, which is outlined in a 24-page document seen by The Athletic.
DAZN bosses are thought to have offered Canelo around half of the $35m based on their view he failed to fight a premier opponent as stipulated in his contract.
Alvarez asked Golden Boy to find a new broadcast partner to show a fight in 2020 fight but having failed to do so landed them in hot water with Canelo's legal team.
Alvarez said in a statement: "I'm the pound-for-pound No 1 in the world. I'm not scared of any opponent in the ring, and I'm not going to let failures of my broadcaster or promoters keep me out of the ring.
"I filed the lawsuit so I can get back to boxing and give my fans the show they deserve."
The four-weight world champion hasn't fought since he beat Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight title last November.
Canelo had been expected to return on his traditional fight date of Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican holiday weekend in May.
It now looks unlikely that boxing fans will get to see one of the sport's superstars in action in 2020.
Earlier this year, it was believed Canelo was lined up to face super middleweight champion Billy Saunders in May and after that, he was looking a third bout with Gennady Golovkin.
The COVID-19 pandemic put that all on hold and even though boxing has returned - albeit without fans - DAZN were only willing to offer less than half of the agreed $35m if Canelo wasn't taking on fellow DAZN fighter Golovkin.
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