DiBella demanded that Comosa comply with the pre-payment or escrow requirements by depositing the following funds with a neutral party: "$500,000 on or before August 1, 2019 (i.e., 65 days before the final bout), $500,000 on or before August 12, 2019 (i.e., 54 days before the final bout), [and] $1,000,000 on or before September 4, 2019 (i.e., 31 days before the final bout)."
The lawsuit continued:
"August 5th came and went with no offer [from Comosa]. Only on August 6th, well after the date DBE specified for the first payment, [Comosa] e-mailed a last minute offer stating, 'In order to save time once Comosa has determined the place and date of the Final, please find attached the contract drafts as proposed by Comosa. Please have a look from your end, what is acceptable to you, and where you would make a counter proposal.'
"The proposed escrow arrangements confirmed that Comosa had no intention to comply with their obligations under the Escrow Agreement as the terms of the new proposal were clearly not the same nor substantially similar to the escrow for the semifinal bout. Comosa offered the following [escrow deposits]: $350,000 on or before August 16, 2019 (50 days before the final bout), $350,000 on or before August 30, 2019 (36 days before the final bout), [and] $1,300,000 on or before September 6, 2019 (29 days before the final bout).
"Further, the offer [from Comosa] asked for another two weeks to finalize, not just the escrow payments, but also the site and date of the final. On information and belief, Comosa made this
offer with the knowledge that their American broadcast partner, DAZN, a sports streaming service, had not approved of the October 5th date. Comosa’s offer was merely a stalling tactic as
they desperately tried to find alternate financing to pay for the bout and front the escrow money.
"Two days later, on August 8, 2019, Comosa forwarded another set of draft escrow and bout agreements. The proposed date of the final was now moved up to September 28th... Moving the date of the final one week closer also gave Prograis even less time to train for final. The fighters in the WBSS are required to travel to the site of the bout at least one week in advance of the fight in order to do publicity. Even if Prograis were to start his training camp immediately on August 8th, he would only have a little over six weeks to be in prime condition.
"Comosa’s continuing failure to perform [is] holding [Prograis'] career hostage and keeping him in limbo. Put simply, Prograis is being kept off of a very lucrative boxing market by Comosa, which upon information and belief, cannot finance the rest of its tournament and is in violation of its obligations under the Escrow Agreement...
[Therefore,] DBE and Prograis seek a declaration that Comosa has not complied with the Escrow Agreement and cannot [do so]. Further, Plaintiffs seek a declaration that Prograis is free and clear of his obligations to Comosa and can pursue his career outside of the WBSS immediately."