PALM SPRINGS, California – Vergil Ortiz Jnr is suing Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions for breach of contract and interference with earnings over the unbeaten WBC junior middleweight interim champion’s attempt to fight recently unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
Ortiz’s attorney is Gregory Smith, who oversaw the efforts of another star fighter – Saul "Canelo" Alvarez – to leave Golden Boy due to breach of contract and other grounds.
In the lawsuit, Smith writes Ortiz, 24-0 (22 KOs), has the right to split with Golden Boy if its streaming agreement with DAZN expires, which Smith claims it did on December 31, even though a smaller Golden Boy card streams on DAZN Friday night here headlined by welterweight contender Raul Curiel.
Golden Boy is contending it is still negotiating with DAZN for a renewal, but De La Hoya’s effort to strike a deal for Ortiz-Ennis is complicating the situation, insiders have told BoxingScene.
De La Hoya has proposed a 60-40 purse split in Ortiz’s favor with Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), potentially left with a 35 per cent split if he loses. Ennis promoter Eddie Hearn said the talks started with a 50-50 split with the winner receiving 5 per cent.
Smith is seeking for the U.S. District Court in Nevada to provide clarity on the Golden Boy-DAZN situation after Ortiz moved to end his promotional rights agreement with Golden Boy last week, a move the promoter refuted on Tuesday.
Smith provided background in his lawsuit about De La Hoya:
“Although Mr. De La Hoya had [a] legendary boxing career, he has a history of substance abuse and rocky relationships with other boxing promoters. In recent years, he has unprofessionally attacked his peers and other boxing luminaries on social media platforms, including weekly Instagram video rants in which he often concludes by telling various boxers and promoters to f*ck themselves.
“To protect Ortiz from the ramifications of Mr. De La Hoya’s behavior, and other boxing industry forces and factions, the PRA contained a provision (Sec. 3(k)) requiring GBP to work in good faith with other promoters as necessary to negotiate with Ortiz’s preferred opponents, and also allowing Ortiz’s representatives to directly negotiate with other promoters. The same clause prevented GBP from engaging in negotiations behind Ortiz’s back by requiring GBP to fully disclose the terms of any written offer and requiring Ortiz to be a signatory to any agreement related to him fighting.”
De La Hoya did not immediately respond to messages left him by BoxingScene regarding the lawsuit.
Smith also pointed to the legal language pertaining to the DAZN matter.
“In the event that Promoter’s distribution relationship with DAZN terminates, for any reason, and Promoter does not have an agreement in principle in place for an exclusive distribution relationship with an alternative broadcaster, then Boxer shall have the right to terminate this Agreement.”
Smith said Golden Boy responded that the promoter provided information that drafts for a potential DAZN-Golden Boy extension through 2027 have been exchanged.
Smith attached a legal quote of precedence: “An agreement to agree at a future time is nothing … .”
Being difficult in staging Ortiz-Ennis is also compromising Ortiz’s earnings, Smith wrote, providing the background that Ennis boarded a flight to Texas to witness Ortiz’s second-round knockout of Erickson Lubin in late November after Ennis’ own first-round knockout win in his 154lbs debut earlier in the month.
Ortiz hoped Golden Boy would work with Ennis promoter Eddie Hearn to strike a deal, with Smith further explaining in the lawsuit, “It was the hope of Ortiz that the bout with Mr. Ennis, which was considered to be one of the best matchups in the sport, would attract the eye of Turki Alalshikh, a boxing fan and the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
“At Mr. Alalshikh’s direction, Saudi Arabia has been a significant sponsor of boxing matches in the last few years, both in Riyadh and outside of K.S.A., such as the September 2025 bout between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford in Las Vegas.
“Instead of working “in good faith with all boxing promoters to assure that Boxer maximizes his exposure and revenue opportunities,” Mr. De La Hoya publicly attacked Mr. Alalshikh and Zuffa Boxing, Mr. Alalshikh’s new partnership with the leadership of the UFC.
“In December 2025, Mr. De La Hoya posted to his Instagram an expletive filled rant insulting the project and all involved. Through this, and other actions, GBP actively undercut any opportunity to maximize Ortiz’ potential earnings from Saudi-backed sponsorships.”
Smith alleges Golden Boy also violated its mandate of providing three options to Ortiz.
“In a December 2025 meeting between GBP and Ortiz’ representatives, GBP presented an offer for the bout with Mr. Ennis, and insisted – despite a PRA requirement that Ortiz be offered at least three potential opponents for any bout – that if Ortiz did not agree to the fight that he would be “benched” and not presented with any other opportunity. GBP also threatened that it would publicly blame Ortiz and his team for the fight with Mr. Ennis not happening if Ortiz did not agree to the sole offer presented,” Smith wrote.
“Although GBP did not disclose it to Ortiz during the meeting, Ortiz later came to learn, through public comments of Mr. Hearn, that there had already been a meeting between GBP, Matchroom Boxing, and DAZN that resulted in a written agreement related to terms for the Ortiz/Ennis fight. GBP never presented this document to Ortiz, again breaching its commitments in the PRA.”
De La Hoya told BoxingScene Monday he was “moving on” from talks for an Ortiz-Ennis fight, and Ortiz manager Rick Mirigian responded by telling BoxingScene he was authorized to negotiate Ortiz’s deal with Hearn.
“Mr. De La Hoya’s public outbursts and attacks, after the PRA was terminated, were designed to improperly interfere with Ortiz’ opportunities to work with other promoters by creating industry confusion as to GBP’s rights – or lack thereof,” the lawsuit alleges.
“They were also the type of efforts to vilify and blame Ortiz and Mr. Mirigian that GBP had threatened when Ortiz turned down the fight offer in December.”
Smith summarized his lawsuit by writing, “GBP’s breaches have caused Ortiz to suffer millions of dollars of losses in fight purses and opportunities for other earnings, such as individual sponsorships and endorsements, that come with in-ring activity and success.
“GBP by engaging in the aforementioned acts and omissions, and/or by authorizing and/or ratifying such acts, engaged in willful, malicious, intentional, oppressive and despicable conduct, and acted with willful and conscious disregard for the rights, welfare, and safety of Ortiz, thereby justifying the award of punitive and exemplary damages in an amount to be determined at trial.”
Contacted by BoxingScene Friday by BoxingScene, Ortiz attorney Smith was asked if this lawsuit means the end of Ortiz-Ennis fight talks.
"Not at all," Smith said. "Just [Golden Boy Promotions'] involvement."
Golden Boy Promotions has released the following statement in response to the suit: "We are aware of the lawsuit. Unfortunately, Vergil is getting bad advice from his lawyer and manager who have repeatedly violated the contract. We will aggressively defend this lawsuit and enforce our rights. We are confident a judge will agree that our contract is valid and Vergil and his team are in breach."
