Congress wants to modify boxing law, but will it pack a sucker punch?

Oscar De La Hoya told U. S. senators this week that a bill the House passed would empower Zuffa Boxing, co-founded by Saudi Arabian official Turki Alalshikh and UFC CEO Dana White, to exploit fighters like they were before a 2000 law.

File Photo by Mario Guzman/EPA WASHINGTON, April 24 (UPI) -- Hall of Fame boxer Oscar De La Hoya told U. S. senators during a hearing this week that a House of Representatives-generated boxing reform bill would exploit fighters by creating boxing leagues.

The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which passed the House on March 24, creates major structural changes to existing law, especially in creating Unified Boxing Organizations that did not exist under the original 2000 Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. In fact, they were prohibited by it. Under the 2000 law, managers, promoters, sanctioning organizations and ranking agencies had to stay separate to prevent conflicts of interest.

The proposed law authorizes Unified Boxing Organizations to combine functions the original law kept apart -- promotion, rankings and championship administration -- into a single regulated entity. Critics argue this could enable a de‑facto monopoly, but the bill does not explicitly grant one to Saudi Arabia. Rather, it creates a framework that many believe TKO Group (UFC/WWE/Zuffa Boxing), which is Saudi‑funded, is positioned to dominate.