Oscar De La Hoya has accepted that the TKO-charged Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act will pass through Congress before it even happens, especially after it received a big nod of support from the California State Athletic Commission. However, the way the CSAC went about its business doesn’t sit well with the Golden Boy Promotions CEO.
Last week, members of the CSAC unanimously voted 6-0 to endorse the U.S. bill after a two-hour meeting, during which more than 90 members of the public joined. Of 32 people who spoke publicly, 20 opposed the bill compared to 12 in support. The people who spoke were mostly from a UFC and/or MMA background, including WWE president and TKO board member Nick Khan going first, with only a little representation from the boxing community.
An initial CSAC discussion on the Ali Revival Act took place Sept. 8 and after much dissent from the public then, the matter was tabled until Dec. 8. However, the CSAC decided to bump the meeting up almost two months on short notice.
De La Hoya chimed in on the lack of boxing representation on the call and called into question the entire proceeding.
“I believe the boxing community hasn’t really done their homework, so to speak,” De La Hoya said in an interview with Ariel Helwani. “I found out about the hearing by somebody telling me as it was happening. I didn’t know at all. I was shocked. And then I was shocked that they had this emergency hearing, which they were supposed to have in December. So I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wow, OK.’
“And the person who calls in (first) is the CEO of TKO to defend it. I mean, c’mon. It’s just shiesty.”
Controversy surrounding the Ali Revival Act, which is an amended version of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, stems from the belief that the new bill will weaken the protections for boxers under the original 1996 Ali Act and that allowing unified boxing organizations (UBO) will create anti-competitive monopolies. The new Ali Revival Act essentially is a way for TKO to run its own UFC-style boxing league as a UBO, meaning the TKO promotion can sign fighters to exclusive contracts while ignoring the traditional boxing sanctioning bodies and create its own rankings system and championship belts.
Oscar De La Hoya worried about Dana White entering boxing?
De Lay Hoya said “of course” the amended Ali Revival Act is going to pass through Congress, but he’s not too worried about his rival, Dana White, and TKO entering the sport.
“I’m actually not, because their league – it is a league – is not traditional boxing,” De La Hoya said. “And it’s OK. They’re gonna have a lot of media around it. They just signed Paramount, billions of dollars. But what I tell fighters: If you’re a kid from East L.A., if you’re a kid from Brooklyn, if you’re a kid from wherever … the neighborhoods where champions are discovered. If you’re that kid and you want to become a world champion, and you want to become a star, and you want to become a household name, and you want to make a lot of money, the American dream, it’s not gonna be with them. It’s just not. …
“Have you seen their pay scale? Have you seen what they’ve done to the UFC fighters, how they’ve suppressed them. I mean, look at Conor McGregor, look at Jon Jones. Why aren’t they fighting? I don’t understand it. The biggest stars in the UFC are not fighting? Why is that?”
“TKO is gonna want to sign quantity, not quality, but just quantity in the hope that they get great fights to convince the public that this is real boxing.”
