Eddie Hearn and Jake Paul ended their legal beef just in time to jointly promote the epic Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano trilogy clash.

A multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit filed by Matchroom Boxing – later joined by boxing judge Glenn Feldman – against Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) was dismissed with prejudice by the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of New York on Monday. Attorneys for both companies filed the joint dismissal after an undisclosed settlement was reached, according to a signed Stipulation of Dismissal obtained by BoxingScene.

“It is hereby stipulated and agreed, by the undersigned counsel of record the above-captioned action is dismissed with prejudice and without costs or fees to either party,” read the letter, which was issued on February 28. 

The case was first filed by Matchroom on September 23, 2022, with a modified complaint submitted three days later to correct a signature error. In the complaint, Matchroom took exception to the claim by Paul that its company had judge Feldman on its payroll.

Feldman joined the active lawsuit one month later with his Motion to Intervene against Paul

Paul made the outlandish allegation based on Feldman’s scoring of two high-profile Matchroom fights – Taylor’s first win over Serrano in April 2022 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Oleksandr Usyk’s repeat victory over Anthony Joshua in August 2022 in Saudi Arabia.

Matchroom promotes Taylor and Joshua, and was the lead promoter for both of the abovementioned fights. Serrano is signed with MVP.  

Judge Feldman scored Taylor-Serrano I 97-93 in favor of Taylor, the widest of the three issued cards in their incredible first encounter. The fiercely contested battle – which saw Taylor retain her undisputed lightweight championship – was hailed by BoxingScene as the 2022 Women’s Fight of the Year. 

Usyk defeated Joshua by split decision in their August 2022 rematch, with Feldman’s card (115-113 Joshua) the outlier in a fight that even Hearn saw Ukraine’s Usyk as the victor.

The latter was enough to prompt Paul to make a specific accusation against the Connecticut-based Feldman, after months of limiting his opinion on Taylor-Serrano I to saying only that he felt his fighter was robbed.

“I still think Amanda Serrano won the fight,” Paul told IFL TV’s Umar Ahmed in a September 2022 interview, just days before the filed complaint. “And then you see how this judge Glenn Feldman, who had the biggest gap between Taylor and Serrano. Everyone pretty much had it a draw … a draw or that Amanda won. But there’s this judge, Glenn Feldman, who scored it such a big gap for Taylor, gave rounds that Amanda clearly won, to Taylor.

“Usyk had a runaway victory, clearly won the fight. This judge, Glenn Feldman, gives it to Anthony Joshua? It’s like a repeated crime here. This type of shit, I’m going to call it out here in boxing because it’s bullshit. Clearly, this guy is getting paid money by Matchroom Boxing.”

Matchroom took action just days later. The company sought damages in excess of $100,000,000.

Paul filed a counterclaim against both Matchroom and Feldman.

Court records indicate that the joint letter was submitted to the court on March 18 by Kevin Fritz, lead attorney for MVP as the defendant. All parties were notified one day later that the matter must be settled no later than April 1 to avoid having to file a follow-up report. 

All elements of the matter were fully satisfied Monday.

The legal action didn’t prevent the two companies from doing business together.

Taylor and Serrano agreed to meet again last summer. This time, it was for Taylor’s undisputed junior welterweight championship on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson undercard on Netflix. The bout was due to take place last July on a show promoted by MVP. It was postponed until November 15 after Tyson was hospitalized and subsequently given sufficient time to recover.

Their rescheduled bout was once again the runaway favorite for Women’s Fight of the Year. Taylor again defeated Serrano, this time by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the contest 95-94, in a bout that most observers thought Serrano won – and with room to spare.

No outcries of criminal behavior were proffered by Paul or anyone from MVP this time – just support for Serrano.

All involved parties are set to do it a third time on July 11, once again at Madison Square Garden.

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.