Don King Productions and Trevor Bryan sued the WBA on Wednesday, demanding that the WBA strip Mahmoud Charr of his heavyweight "champion in recess" designation. Charr was not named as a defendant in the case, which was filed by attorneys Jonathan Walsh and Alejandro Brito, giving the lawsuit zero percent chance of succeeding as written. No judge would strip a boxer when that boxer is not present before the court to defend his rights. (Of course, the lawsuit can still be amended.) Bryan, who is promoted by DKP, is recognized as the WBA's secondary or "regular" heavyweight champion behind WBA super champion Anthony Joshua. Bryan obtained his secondary title only after Charr was demoted by the WBA in January from regular champion to champion in recess.  Bryan was then sanctioned to fight the unqualified Bermane Stiverne for the vacant regular title.

When the WBA demoted Charr and sanctioned Bryan-Stiverne to determine his successor, it was widely viewed as severe corruption that benefitted DKP, because DKP controls the careers of Bryan and Stiverne but does not control Charr. That DKP and Bryan were basically gifted a heavyweight championship, even a secondary one, makes this lawsuit against the WBA truly bizarre. DKP's principal, Don King, is approaching 90 years of age and has enjoyed a decades-long close relationship with the WBA. 

After that, the lawsuit alleges that on March 17th, the WBA ordered Bryan to defend against Charr by May 30th. Apparently neither side took any steps to compy with the WBA order and Charr arranged to fight Christopher Lovejoy in Germany on May 15th.

Although filed on June 2nd, much of the lawsuit appears to have been written a few weeks ago, because it states that "if Lovejoy were to defeat Charr, there is no indication from the WBA that Charr would lose his staus as champion in recess." Charr defeated Lovejoy via second-round knockout three weeks ago.

The lawsuit claims that Bryan's career is being negatively impacted because "Bryan will be forced to forego participation in bouts against rival boxers who are unwilling to engage in discussions with Bryan or DKP unless and until the WBA clarifies Charr's status... other fighters are reluctant to participate in a bout against Bryan until such time as Charr's overly extended champion in recess status is addressed by the WBA."

DKP also claims injury because as long as Charr is champion in recess and the WBA could order a Charr-Bryan fight in the future, "DKP's ability to effectively promote a bout for Bryan against other leading contenders is substantially impacted."