Errol Spence Jr. filed his own lawsuit against his longtime trainer Derrick James hours before James’ claim landed in Dallas County civil court. In Spence’s filing, the former unified welterweight champion declares “he does not owe James any unpaid compensation.”

That contradicts James’ claim that Spence owes him “no less than $5 million” for the trainer’s verbally arranged 10% cut of Spence’s guaranteed purse money for a string of pay-per-view bouts, closing with Spence’s ninth-round TKO loss to Terence Crawford.

While James claimed in his lawsuit that he was owed 10% of both the money promised Spence in his bout agreements and his pay-per-view proceeds, Spence argues in his April 17 lawsuit that the fighter only owed James the 10% share of his “promoter-contestant contract.”

Spence’s lawsuit claims the Texas fighter, who was trained by James as an amateur before reaching the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, that Spence would pay James “a bonus for some, but not all, of the fights to emphasize the value that Spence placed on their relationship.”

“Spence and James’ oral agreement does not provide that James would be paid 10% of Spence’s total fight revenue, such that Spence is not required to pay James 10% of revenue tied to a fight generated from pay-per-view or otherwise,” Spence’s attorney, Jonathan R. Childers, wrote in his claim.

Spence affirms there was an oral agreement in place, created when he turned pro in 2012 and paid James $250 of his first $2,500 purse. Spence claims he consistently paid James 10% of his promoter-contestant contract earnings since.

“As Spence’s fame increased, so did James’,” the Spence lawsuit read.

As for the bonuses, Spence gave one to James following his comeback win over Danny Garcia following a crash of Spence’s Porsche in Dallas, but he did not deliver a bonus following the later unification victory over Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas.

“James accepted these payments with no complaint,” according to the Spence lawsuit.

James reported in his lawsuit that Spence made $25 million to fight Crawford, and produced a February text message in the evidence where Spence appears to concede he owed James another $2.15 million beyond the $350,000 he had previously paid him.

In James’ lawsuit, James claimed Spence told the trainer that “someone named Al” had told him that $350,000 was “generous.” It was not revealed if “Al” was Spence’s manager and Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon.

Spence’s lawsuit claims that it wasn’t until February – six months after the Crawford loss – that James first requested to be paid 10% of the total fight revenue.

The Spence lawsuit contends James was given his proper 10% of the bout-agreement cut of $2.5 million, along with a $100,000 bonus.

“Thus,” the Spence lawsuit claims, “the standard course of performance between Spence and James occurred, for a 29th time.

“Spence is grateful for James’ longtime assistance, but is disappointed by James’ recent attempted overreach to try and abstain payment beyond their longstanding agreement and exceeding the scope of the services that James provided,” Childers wrote in the lawsuit.

James is seeking accounting for Spence’s earnings in all of his pay-per-view bouts, including his lucrative triumphs over Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and Ugas.

Spence counters by seeking $250,000 or less from James, along with attorney fees.