The gloves have long been off in the rivalry between UFC CEO/President Dana White and Golden Boy Promotions’ Hall of Fame head Oscar De La Hoya, who this week called White’s push to alter federal regulations of boxing as “shady.”
White’s Zuffa Boxing, positioning for a January debut with a new Paramount+ streaming deal, wants to rank its own in-house fighters and award them its own belts rather than work with other promoters and sanctioning bodies.
White spoke in bullish terms regarding what he plans to accomplish on a podcast last week, downplaying the work of his predecessors, and was struck by criticism from both Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn and then De La Hoya, who appeared on Ariel Helwani’s show Monday.
On Tuesday’s episode of “BoxingScene Today” on ProBoxTV, analysts and former world champions Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi argued that instead of setting aside existing federal protections, the sport should seek to strengthen the rules to better enforce financial disclosures from promoters.
“It’s in place to protect fighters and has no teeth. It needs more, not changing or abolishing,” Algieri said. “It needs more scrutinizing – to be beefed up. TKO [Zuffa Boxing] wants more power. It doesn’t pass the eye test. I’m curious to see how this all plays out.”
Although Zuffa Boxing’s push for the new “Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act” has been endorsed by the champion’s widow, Lonnie, and supported by a 6-0 vote from the California State Athletic Commission, Ali’s boxing-fan daughter, Hana, and his boxer grandson, Nico Ali Walsh, have both distributed statements objecting to the proposed changes.
It’s likely the regulations will be altered by President Trump’s Republican majority Congress. Trump and White are close friends.
“My father would have always sided with whatever truly protected a person’s free will and best interests, especially those who lacked the knowledge or resources to navigate the business world,” Hana Ali wrote on Instagram.
“While no one can speak for my father, I know he would have stood for fairness, honesty and protecting the individual above all else. Not corporations, not politics, but people –THE FIGHTERS!”
While UFC’s parent company TKO and the California commission blame current promoters and the sanctioning bodies for ineffective business strategies and unfair title-fight fees, working to lockup fighters in multi-year contracts and depriving them of their rights to inspect television, live-gate and sponsorship earnings made for their fights is a debatable trade-off, Malignaggi said.
“Why I want to protect it is that no matter what happens [in promoter- or manager-fighter agreements] now, a fighter can take them to court and audit the numbers to see everything,” Malignaggi said. “If you eliminate [the regulations] none of it matters and what you agree to is what you agree to.”
Algieri said he used the existing Ali Act as leverage to file lawsuits against his former boxing business advisors.
“Did it help me? No. But it gave me some ground to stand on,” Algieri said. “I wouldn’t want to be a fighter in a world without the [existing] Ali Act.”
De La Hoya said Zuffa Boxing’s arrival will be met by improved cooperation among existing promoters to remain faithful to the tenets of the existing regulations and to make fights that will draw more attention than the Zuffa Boxing stable of developmental athletes and rising contenders.
While Zuffa Boxing is pitching improved minimum purses, health care and drug testing, Algieri said the free-enterprise behavior among boxers is better for the sport.
“You don’t show up for an overlord, and it’s ‘Take it or leave it,’” Algieri said.
He said he welcomes a new promotion offering a new streaming deal and the opportunity to build stars.
Malignaggi foresees increased cooperation among promoters in the effort to make big fights that will keep their businesses in the spotlight, even as HBO, Showtime and ESPN have left the sport during the past decade.
“You have to keep up by making great fights,” Malignaggi said, adding that BoxingScene-owned ProBoxTV has set the example for Zuffa Boxing to follow by arranging a stream of 50/50 action fights that have led Lester Martinez and Ramon Cardenas to major cards this year.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
