De La Hoya says Zuffa’s handling of the Opetaia fight forced the IBF to withdraw its sanction
Oscar De La Hoya has launched a public attack on Dana White and Zuffa Boxing over the sanctioning dispute surrounding Jai Opetaia’s recent fight. The Golden Boy promoter claims the IBF was misled before withdrawing its approval.
The controversy surfaced ahead of Opetaia’s cruiserweight fight with Brandon Glanton. The bout was expected to carry IBF title status, but the sanctioning body withdrew its approval two days before the event after concerns related to the newly introduced Zuffa championship belt.
The IBF decision placed Opetaia in a difficult position. The Australian still went ahead with the fight and secured a clear points victory, later stating that his objective remains becoming undisputed champion through the traditional four-belt system.
De La Hoya addressed the situation on social media, directing strong criticism toward White and the new promotion.
“So, Jai Opetaia fought over the weekend for what he thought would be an IBF title … only to find out at the press conference that he was lied to by none other than Uncle Fester and Zuffa.
“So, let me explain. We all know the Zuffa belt is like a participation trophy that’s given to a nine-year-old at the end of a soccer game. It has the significance of a haemorrhoid on my ass. And that’s all they agreed it would be in order to get the IBF to participate in the Opetaia fight, until last week at the press conference when Fester and his friends surprised everyone and announced the Zuffa belt as a world title belt.
These mfs violated rule number five of the IBF. After that, the sanction was pulled. Zuffa has no intention of following the IBF rules and used that deception to humiliate them. So [the IBF] said fk this and they pulled out. Zuffa lied to everyone the entire time and poor Jai Opetaia suffered because of it.”
The IBF has since placed the situation under further deliberation, leaving uncertainty over how the sanctioning dispute will ultimately be resolved.
White has already indicated that legal action could follow the IBF decision, with early reports suggesting that legal proceedings may already be under consideration.
Opetaia himself has not publicly addressed the latest developments. His position remains unchanged: continue collecting belts through the recognized sanctioning bodies and pursue undisputed status in the cruiserweight division.