Oscar De La Hoya is warning fighters that the biggest checks around Zuffa Boxing may not tell the whole story.
In a new Instagram video, De La Hoya called Dana White’s boxing push a “Trojan Horse” and argued that short-term money for names like Shakur Stevenson, Conor Benn, and Jai Opetaia could become the pitch that pulls younger fighters into a far tighter system later.
So I saw The Odyssey the other day. It was about the Greeks and how they invaded the city of Troy by disguising themselves inside a Trojan Horse. They tricked their enemies to get inside their gates and the rest is history. Today, Zuffa Boxing is the Trojan Horse.
They are overpaying a few boxers to make it seem like this big money will continue, but it won’t. Once they monopolize the sport like they want to, Zuffa will pay fighters peanuts, exactly like the UFC. It’s the same model. They want to change the Muhammad Ali Act so they can operate as their own league with their own rules, their own rankings, their own unicorn belt. They’re luring in the biggest names for fight-by-fight deals. No long contracts. That’s why you see Shakur and Conor fighting a one- or two-fight deal. Never a long-term deal. But again, this is the Trojan Horse.
Here is De La Hoya’s full post:
De La Hoya Says The Early Money Comes With A Warning
The line connects to the same fighter-pay argument that has followed White from UFC into boxing. MiddleEasy recently covered Ryan Garcia saying he would not wear Zuffa Boxing gear before his Conor Benn fight, and also covered the DAZN move around Devin Haney and Keyshawn Davis while boxing’s business lanes keep shifting.
They are overpaying the household names in order to look pretty and gain credibility. So more up-and-coming fighters will sign with them, and mark my words, once they get you to sign, they’re going to scale all payment back just like they have with the UFC. That’s the goal.
The problem is the younger generation feels this kind of money will be available to them at Zuffa Boxing, but the truth is that they’ll be tricked into a very shitty contract where they must fight for only the unicorn belt, the Zuffa belt and The Ring belt, which lost all its credibility. It’s now a joke.
De La Hoya then used Jai Opetaia’s title dispute as his example. Opetaia’s legal fight with the IBF has already become one of the loudest early tests of Zuffa Boxing’s relationship with sanctioning bodies.
Here’s an example of how they’re already making up their own rules. Ring Magazine rules state that if you fail to schedule a fight in two years against a top 5 contender, you will be stripped. That means Jai Opetaia should have been stripped in May because he chose to fight a cab driver in Zuffa’s basement instead of a top 5 contender. But Ring Magazine didn’t strip him. Why? Because Zuffa makes up their own rules. Even the IBF stripped Jai Opetaia of their belt because they don’t recognize the Zuffa unicorn belt that they keep trying to push down fighters’ throats.
And poor Jai Opetaia, I feel so bad for him because Zuffa has him suing the IBF on their behalf. He’s literally fighting the legal fight for Zuffa, it’s truly disgusting. Look, once they have their monopoly, nobody will get paid anymore. They need all of you to be hooked in by this ridiculous overspending you’re seeing right now, but that cannot be sustained. Just like LIV Golf. So don’t be the city of Troy, guys. Don’t sell out and don’t open your f*cking doors. The writing is on the wall. And ‘Uncle Fester,’ f*ck you.
MiddleEasy also covered Opetaia suing the IBF after the title-strip dispute. De La Hoya is now using that case to tell fighters that the early money is not the only number they should read.
