By Jake Donovan

Even one full year later, boxing fans just can’t seem to shake off the massive letdown that came with the long-awaited and ultimately disappointing showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao last May.

Neither can the legal teams of those who were involved in the richest event in boxing history, who’ve now seen fit to take their own issues to court.

Showtime Networks – who served in a joint Pay-Per-View distribution effort with American cable rival HBO to present the event – has filed a lawsuit against Top Rank, Inc., Pacquiao’s longtime promoter on Wednesday. The case – which was first revealed by The Hollywood Reporter - is over legal fees incurred from separate class action lawsuits surrounding the May ’15 title fight, most of which claim a conspiracy to deceive the public in failing to disclose that Pacquiao entered the event while fighting through a recurring rotator cuff injury.

The disappointment that came from the aforementioned clash – which carried a $100 PPV price tag for a headlining act that saw Mayweather win a landslide decision over Pacquiao – remains the subject of a number of still active lawsuits. Showtime has long sought to disassociate itself from the sessions and now seeks to have its legal tab picked up by Top Rank. 

“Showtime Networks today filed suit against Top Rank in the Southern District of New York to enforce Showtime Networks’ right to be reimbursed for legal fees incurred defending the many lawsuits filed relating to the injury sustained by Manny Pacquiao before his May 2, 2015 fight against Floyd Mayweather,” a Showtime spokesperson informed BoxingScene.com on Wednesday. “Showtime was dismissed from those litigations which continue against Top Rank.”

The basis for the lawsuit between the network and the 50-year promotional outfit stems from a dispute over what Showtime alleges as failure to live up to an indemnification agreement.

The complaint – of which BoxingScene,com - states that Top Rank “was obligated to defend and indemnify Showtime Networks, Inc. But at the outset of these actions, it was manifest that Showtime Networks, Inc. and Top Rank, Inc. – (the latter) which was alleged to have known of and concealed the pre-fight injury, had starkly different interests.

“At once, Showtime Networks, Inc demanded that Top Rank honor its contractual obligations to indemnify Showtime Networks, Inc and pay for [its] own counsel to defend it in these actions because of the manifest potential conflict between them. Top Rank, Inc. refused.”

It’s not quite the way Top Rank, Inc. sees it, acknowledging there is a dispute over reimbursement of legal fees, but in disagreement over the suggested conflict.

“It’s a question of interpretation,” Hall-of-Fame promoter Bob Arum – also an attorney – told BoxingScene.com. “There’s no real dispute here, it’s not like we’re locked into a lengthy legal battle fighting over millions of dollars. It’s not peanuts, mind you, but it’s just a matter of two sides seeing things different.”

Showtime has spent most of the past year attempting to disassociate itself from and seek dismissals of the multiple lawsuits implicating the American cable giant of any wrongdoing. It’s been a costly process, with the current price tag as of May 12, 2016 suggesting $682,754.07 in legal fees and interest that remains unpaid by Top Rank, Inc. 

According to a network spokesperson, Showtime “made every effort to resolve this matter short of the courthouse, but Top Rank’s persistent refusal to honor its contractual obligations forced Showtime to take this regrettable, but necessary, step.”

Perhaps there is a reason for such a delay.

The complaint suggests that Top Rank at one point last fall sought to “assert its own claims for indemnity against Showtime" based on the network’s representation that publicity materials in connection with the fight would not give rise to any claim of unfair competition. The promoter’s position – according to said documents – suggests allegations of a breach of said agreement in the network’s effort to clear its own name.

“The bottom line is whether all of this comes under indemnification,” explains Arum. “Our lawyer says it doesn’t; their lawyer says it does. We were in the middle of negotiating this, and then all of a sudden we were met with this lawsuit. It is what it is. It’s not something any of us are taking lightly, but we are confident this will be resolved in due time without a lot of fuss.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2