Oscar De La Hoya and the boxer-grandson of Muhammad Ali finally had their full opportunity to voice their displeasure with the revised act named after “The Greatest”, in speaking to the U.S. Senate Wednesday.
The persistent question that remains is whether the emotion of their protests can sway the political reality of the matter?
With the Zuffa Boxing-backed Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act having already cleared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the expectation is that the Republican majority in the Senate will also forward the bill to the desk of President Trump to sign into law.
Trump is such good friends with Zuffa executive and UFC CEO Dana White, he’s going to stage a UFC fight card on the White House grounds in June.
Against that backdrop, knowing that a herd of fighters including recent world champions Jai Opetaia, Richardson Hitchins, Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela and popular contenders Conor Benn and Edgar Berlanga have already defected to Zuffa Boxing, De La Hoya and Nico Walsh Ali nevertheless fought their good fight in attempting to keep the current federal protections for boxers in place.
In reminding his position was being delivered from a place of being a former U.S. Olympic gold medalist, a six-division champion and the head of Golden Boy Promotions, De La Hoya said Zuffa Boxing’s push to create a new Unified Boxing Organization creates a “rigid earning structure” for most with the promoter controlling ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandising and discretionary bonuses.
Boxing, he said, already has strong medical and insurance protections and he asked why that courtesy is “completely excluded,” from the UFC’s MMA fighters, raising the question if the motive is truly about “restructuring control of boxing,” not fighter health.
“If this bill passes, fighters will have fewer choices, less leverage and less control over their careers. When that happens, it will not be the sport that fails them. It will be us,” De La Hoya told the Senate committee headed by Senator Ted Cruz (R.-Texas).
Nico Ali Walsh reminded that the original Ali Act created in 2000 kept firewalls between promoters, managers and sanctioning bodies, not locking fighters into six-year contracts to a promotion that plans to rank its fighters and distribute its own belts.
“They should not control the entire marketplace of promotion, management and matchmaking … this undermines that principle,” Ali Walsh said.
Lobbying for the revised act “behind the claim boxing” is not accurate, he said, pointing to the fact UFC fighters Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and Francis Ngannou made their richest purses by boxing, because of “leverage and fair market value,” which could get lost in a new system that doesn’t require disclosures informing fighters how much money is coming in for a given bout and how it’s being distributed.
Walsh defended current protections, noting that a bout against a PED-positive fighter was addressed along with a serious shoulder injury he suffered in a bout.
“Real protections are in place,” he said.
“The bill the House has passed should not be adopted … it should not have my grandfather’s name on it, as it betrays the principles his act was created to protect,” Ali Walsh said.
De La Hoya also argued that the new act gives Zuffa Boxing the power to “control access to opportunity,” and erases the care of the existing act to provide “fairness, protecting fighters from being taken advantage of by addressing… transparency [and] the exploitation of fighters.”
A Zuffa spokesman reminded after the appearance that De La Hoya, as a promoter, has endured breach of contract lawsuits filed against him by four-division champion Canelo Alvarez and unbeaten 154lbs fighter Vergil Ortiz Jnr while previously being accused of withholding disclosures by WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia.
De La Hoya argues the new act was scripted to put “corporate profits first,” and repeated cautionary tales of permitting that, citing the UFC’s $375 million anti-trust settlement for restricting earnings and opportunity and the Saudi Arabia ownership stake in Zuffa Boxing considering reports of the impending collapse of Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
“We should be honest about what’s happening here – that was sportswashing, a clear effort to use sports to reshape reputation,” De La Hoya said.
The Zuffa representative countered De La Hoya sold The Ring Magazine to Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh for $10 million, and has staged several bouts funded by Saudi money – including Garcia’s February title victory and the 2024 “Latino Night” in Saudi Arabia.
In defense of Zuffa Boxing’s push, WWE President and TKO Group Holdings board member Nick Khan told the senators of boxing’s precipitous fall in popularity over the past 50 years, from the time when Ali fought four times, Rocky won best picture, nine Americans won gold medals at the 1984 Olympics and boxer earnings far exceeded those in the NFL and NBA.
“Talent follows money, athletes chose boxing,” Khan, a former boxing advisor, said.
He also noted the attention to safety, reminding no UFC fighters have died in over 770 events while more than 60 boxers have died over the same period. It should be referenced, however, that boxing stages, in one year alone, significantly more than the total 770 events UFC has staged since 1993.
Ridding boxing of the sanctioning bodies – Khan claimed the WBC recognizes 163 champions across 18 weight classes and often charges 3 per cent sanctioning fees – gives Zuffa the opportunity to build “on the premise of letting boxers choose a better system,” he said.
Improved minimum pay, health insurance through training camp, brain and heart testing and other safety upgrades are elements that moved the act through the House with bipartisan support and critical upgrades suggested by Democrats.
Additionally, Tim Shipman, the head Florida boxing regulator who leads the Association of Boxing Commissions, voiced his support for Zuffa’s plan, which also has the support of California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer Andy Foster.
“These are concrete protections that are long overdue,” Khan said, announcing Zuffa will also donate $1 million to the Police Athletic League and other U.S.-based amateur boxing groups, hopeful that U.S. boxing will succeed at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles and set the stage for a renaissance.
The strategy appears as a fait accompli for Zuffa, but at least the defiant voices of “The Golden Boy” and an Ali descendant have officially entered the public record.
