Manny Pacquiao could be in for the fight of his life both in and out of the ring in the coming months.

The record-setting eight-division titlist was hit with a breach-of-contract lawsuit by Paradigm Sports Management and Audie Attar, company founder and leading combat sports manager who alleges that Pacquiao was advanced $3.3 million for business arrangements that never transpired.

Additionally, Attar’s legal team—headed by noted boxing attorney Judd Burstein—has filed an injunction in an effort to block Philippines’ Pacquiao from entering an August 21 unified welterweight title fight versus WBC/IBF champion Errol Spence.

News of the lawsuit—which was filed Friday in an Orange County, California courthouse—was first reported by The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire. It was met with a dismissive tone by Pacquiao’s legal team, who questioned the validity and the timing of the case.

“The complaint filed by Paradigm Sports in California state court on Friday is a frivolous effort to interfere with Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming mega fight, and it can and will fail for numerous reasons,” Dale Kinsella, representing Pacquiao on behalf of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump LLP said in a statement issued to BoxingScene.com. “Moreover, had Manny Pacquiao known that Paradigm Sports appears to have had no intention of fulfilling its contractual obligations, he never would have entered into any relationship with them.”

According to the lawsuit, Pacquiao and Paradigm Sports Management connected last February with the intention of securing a four-fight deal with sports streaming service DAZN. The timing coincided with the platform debut of former four-division titlist Mikey Garcia (40-1, 30KOs), who rebounded from a shutout loss to Spence in March 2019 to outpoint former two-division titlist Jessie Vargas in their terrific 12-round war last February 29.

From there came talks of a showdown between Pacquiao and Garcia that lingered on well into 2021, though always seeming to fall just short of a finalized deal. Garcia even commented at one point that every time he believed that terms were reached, another party would introduce themselves claiming to guide Pacquiao’s career.

In spite of that observation, it was believed—according to the filed complaint—that the pair of multi-division champions had in fact reached a deal and were on the verge of announcing plans for such a showdown.

Instead, Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39KOs) threw the industry for a loop in announcing his plans for a superfight with Spence (27-0, 21KOs). The news was stunning for a number of reasons, including that of Spence—the unified welterweight titlist from Desoto, Texas—previously being linked to a potential unification bout with Yordenis Ugas, who was upgraded from WBA “World” to WBA “Super” welterweight titlist earlier this year.

The same ruling downgraded Pacquiao from WBA “Super” to “WBA Champion in Recess” due to his extended inactivity period following his July 2019 title consolidation win over previously unbeaten Keith Thurman. Pacquiao’s MP Promotions—headed by longtime confidant and company president Sean Gibbons—has since filed a petition with the sanctioning body seeking reinstatement as champion given that Ugas has not fought since the ruling.

More pressing matters are currently at hand, namely the concern from Paradigm that its perceived client led them to believe that a fight announcement versus Garcia was forthcoming.

According to the complaint, Garcia reentered the picture after UFC superstar Conor McGregor—whom Attar and Paradigm also represent—suffered a second-round submission loss to Dustin Poirier in their rematch atop UFC 257 this past January. The defeat by McGregor ruined plans for a superfight with Pacquiao, whose team initially pursued a catchweight fight with unbeaten Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18KOs) in a fight that seemed on the verge of happening until it fell apart out of nowhere.

The complaint also names Gibbons and others in Pacquiao’s camp who allegedly played an active role in steering the legendary southpaw away from DAZN and back to PBC, with whom he previously enjoyed a two-fight deal that saw him post win over Thurman and Adrien Broner before that.

The August 21 clash between Pacquiao and Spence will take place under the PBC banner in headlining a Fox Sports Pay-Per-View event live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tickets have already gone on—and are a hot—sale, with a capacity crowd expected at the 20,000-seat venue. The promise from Pacquiao’s legal team is that any effort to disrupt the event will be met with swift and resolute justice.

“Should this matter actually proceed beyond Friday’s filing in a court of law, Mr. Pacquiao will vigorously defend this action, assert his own claims against Paradigm Sports, and seek to recover his attorney’s fees as well,” insists Kinsella.

Paradigm seeks damages in addition to recovering its alleged $3.3 million paid to Pacquiao, to include but not limited to “costs associated with this proceeding.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox