Muhammad Ali Act Proposed Changes Continue To Divide

A U.S. Senate hearing led by Senator Ted Cruz showed the divide over the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act.

The proposed legislation would alter the boxing landscape by allowing for the creation of Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs)—centralized entities that could act as both promoter and sanctioning body. The hearing featured a standoff between TKO Group executive Nick Khan and Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, with the grandson of Muhammad Ali, Nico Ali Walsh, also expressing his stance. The bill has already passed the House, as it heads to the Senate. 

Khan argued that the current system—where four major bodies (WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF) charge fighters 3% of their purses for belts—needs to change. Zuffa’s UBO model would bring everything under “one roof,” similar to the UFC.

Khan highlighted that fighters joining Zuffa would benefit from an exclusive distribution deal with Paramount+. The proposal includes a national minimum pay of $200 per round, mandatory injury insurance up to $50,000, and a six-year cap on promotional contracts to prevent boxers being locked in. 

“If you want a chance to be something bigger over a shorter period of time on a platform, we were able to secure a deal with Paramount, as I said on a platform that has almost 80 million subscribers worldwide and has a network partner in CBS. If you want that exposure, if you want trading card deals, if you want merchandise deals, if you want video game deals, of which the fighters would all participate financially. If you want all of that, plus some more, come this way. If you don’t, that’s your choice. They [the current sanctioning bodies) are terrible for the sport. They’ve ruined the sport,” Khan stated 

De La Hoya offered a rebuttal, characterizing the bill as a “fundamental shift in power.” De La Hoya warned that UBOs would effectively end a fighter’s ability to negotiate. By removing the divide between promoters and sanctioning bodies, it would leave fighters more vulnerable than ever.

“With the current Ali Act, the Ali Act protects the fighter 100% and there’s a reason why we haven’t changed that bill in the last 26 years. Nobody has complained about it, nobody has said anything about it until Zuffa Boxing comes into the circle and tries to change everything. One system operates under transparency and accountability while the UBOs do not,” De La Hoya said

Nico Ali Walsh was also against the changes. 

“When one system controls access, choice becomes theoretical, not real,” Walsh stated