OTTO WALLIN SUES SALITA PROMOTIONS AND DAVID BERLIN
By Scott Shaffer
18/07/2023
Heavyweight Otto Wallin has filed a lawsuit against Salita Promotions and attorney David Berlin, a former executive director of the New York Athletic Commission. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating the Muhammad Ali Act. Berlin is further accused of legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and a conflict of interest for allegedly acting as Wallin’s manager at the same time he represented Salita Promotions in situations where their interests were irreconcilably adverse.
The charges are at odds with Berlin's reputation. In 2014, Berlin was appointed to direct the New York Athletic Commission. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Boxing Writers Association of America’s James A. Farley Award for Honesty and Integrity. According to Wallin, Berlin managed Wallin’s career after stepping down from his position with the New York Athletic Commission. There was no written contract between Wallin and Berlin, and New York law requires that boxing management contracts be put in writing, a rule with which Berlin, as a former boxing commissioner, is surely familiar. The lawsuit acknowledges that Berlin obtained a signed waiver in which Wallin agreed to Berlin's representation despite a "potential conflict of interest" but Wallin did not include that document in his legal filings. The promotional contract between Wallin and Salita Promotions was included in the court filing and it lists Zachary Levin, not Berlin, as Wallin’s representative. It is known that Levin and Berlin also had a professional relationship.
Berlin is accused of “steering” Wallin to Salita Promotions in 2019 “rather than fulfilling his fiduciary responsibilities” to “canvass promoters and determine if they had an interest in signing” Wallin. When the 2019 contract expired last month, Wallin received an offer from Top Rank that included Wallin’s fights being televised on ESPN. The complaint does not say whether it was Berlin or someone else who reached out to Top Rank for the offer.
Salita Promotion’s contract allegedly gave it the right to match Top Rank’s offer, and Salita agreed to match it. However, Wallin contends that the offer could not be matched because Top Rank has exclusive rights to air fights on ESPN. But Berlin wrote a cease and desist letter to Top Rank on behalf of Salita Promotions, allegedly causing Top Rank to withdraw the offer to Salita. This, according to the complaint, is a violation of the Muhammad Ali Act’s firewall provision designed to prevent collusion between a boxer’s manager and promoter.
Salita Promotions was also sued for providing less than the minimum number of bouts to which Wallin was entitled.