Eddie Hearn Takes Aim at TKO and Dana White for Trying to Change the Ali Act
Eddie Hearn isn’t particularly fond of Dana White’s desire to dismantle the Ali Act.
Ahead of Saturday’s clash between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, White got into a heated back-and-forth with journalist Sean Zittel over the UFC CEO’s plans to tear apart The Act that helps protect boxers from unscrupulous promoters.
White ultimately declined to answer the question posed and welcomed Zittel to set up a one-on-one interview before unnecessarily calling him an “a**hole” to cap off their exchange.
Eddie Hearn Reacts to Dana White’s Attack on the Ali Act
Offering his take on the interaction between White and Zittel, Hearn offered his take on why White is so intent on implementing changes to a federal law that serves to protect fighters.
“The question is, why are you trying to get the Muhammad Ali Act changed or removed?” Hearn told Ariel Helwani. “The strange thing about that Act is that on every show, you have to declare to the fighters on the card the revenue of the event, which is quite unique. There isn’t really a problem with that in the boxing world because a significant proportion of the revenue is paid to the athlete… I think they will think that fighters are overpaid because they are in relation to the UFC and MMA talent.”
First introduced in 1999 and enacted on May 26, 2000, the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act amends the 1996 Professional Boxing Safety Act to protect professional boxers from exploitation by ensuring fair contracts, transparency in earnings, separation of roles between promoters and managers, and objective rating criteria for fighters.
The Act was enacted in response to widespread abuse of boxers via exploitation, rigged rankings, and fixed matches.
As it stands, promoters are not allowed to establish their own championship bodies or hold exclusive contracts that could restrict a fighter’s freedom to negotiate with other promoters. However, a proposed piece of legislation co-sponsored by Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick could potentially change all that, paving the way for White to bring his UFC model to the world of professional boxing.
