De La Hoya gives his remarks.
There was a Senate Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., and among the speakers were promoter and former boxer Oscar De La Hoya, boxer Nico Ali Walsh, and WWE President/Zuffa Boxing executive Nick Khan.
The hearing was about the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which is a federal law to protect boxers from exploitation. Per the law, promoters must disclose revenue numbers to main event fighters, so it opens the door for better pay negotiations.
After the hearing, De La Hoya took to his Instagram to call out Nick Khan and TKO Group Holdings. De La Hoya said it was clear that there was an agenda in place for the hearing when Senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio repeatedly asked Khan about bringing WrestleMania to Cleveland.
De La Hoya said Khan ‘lied his ass off’ during the hearing. He said Zuffa wants to monopolize boxing and turn it into UFC 2.0. He added that it’s a dictatorship. De La Hoya then called Zuffa CEO and UFC founder Dana White a ‘sick f*ck’ for saying the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner was ‘awesome.’
De La Hoya closed by bringing up that he saw a contract from a fighter who signed with Zuffa and that the fighter regrets it.
“It’s your favorite time of the week again. Time for the only segment in boxing that gives you the facts, and it makes you laugh, it’s clapback Thursday. Alright, so I went to Washington, D.C. last week to testify in the Senate and oppose the amendments TKO Group is trying to make to the Muhammad Ali Act. TKO’s proposed amendment passed easily through the House, without ever even hearing from a fighter. How is that possible? And now it’s being introduced in the Senate. Nico Ali Walsh and myself walked in there last week hoping to shed some truth on all the lie(s) TKO has been telling to convince the Senators there’s no need to change these protections. Nico was spot on and made all the right points. But, it was immediately clear the Senators already had their agenda.” De La Hoya played a clip of a Senator asking Nick Khan about bringing WrestleMania to Cleveland, Ohio. “And the snakeoil salesman Nick the con talked and talked in circles about boxing, a sport he’s never been involved in. He isn’t a fighter. He’s a Hollywood agent. He lied his ass off and got so many things wrong. But, he said it convincingly. I have never been part of something so obviously corrupt in my entire life. Nico and I walked into a f*cking buzzsaw. So it seems the bill will pass, and Zuffa will be able to create their own league, with their own unicorn belt, rules, rankings, everything. They want to monopolize boxing. It will be UFC 2.0, and we all know how awful that is for fighters. You guys now have a choice whether to fight for the unicorn belt, or stay in the current system that has worked for 100-plus years. A system full of history and legacy, rules and fair rankings. Or, you go to a dictatorship who treats you as a number. You can kiss all your sponsorship deals goodbye. You won’t even be allowed to wear your own trunks when you fight. They will dictate who you fight, when, where and how much you receive. I mean, say goodbye to fair market value. Oh, and this lunatic is your boss?” De La Hoya played a clip of Dana White saying the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was awesome. “This guy who thinks public shootings are fun. What a sick f*ck. History will repeat itself. Oh, I saw a contract from a fighter who already regrets signing with Zuffa, and it’s horrific. They make fighters pay for their own medicals. Oh, and if you lose, they decide how much to pay you. You won’t know until after the fact. The contracts are garbage so beware buyer, and you heard it first here, so remember, kids, you’re never a hater if you only speak the facts.”
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To read a quote from Khan during the Senate hearing, head over to this link.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit the original source with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
