Jai Opetaia, who signed with Zuffa Boxing earlier this year, has filed a lawsuit against the International Boxing Federation in federal court in Nevada. Opetaia claims violation of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, breach of contract, and other claims in the lawsuit filed last week.
Opetaia, the former IBF cruiserweight champion, claims that the organization agreed to sanction the fight even paying the $73K sanctioning fee only for the organization to withdraw and strip Opetaia of the title. The lawsuit alleges that it was due in part to the placement of the IBF belt in relation to the Ring belt at a pre-fight press conference. The image was embedded in the lawsuit.
Opetaia believes that the IBF stripped him of the title for participating in a Zuffa Boxing match against Brandon Glanton this past spring. The former IBF cruiserweight champion is seeking the belt back as part of the lawsuit.
Opetaia claims that the IBF did not provide the requisite disclosure to the Nevada State Athletic Commission which is in direct violation of the Ali Act.
The lawsuit presents a theme as Zuffa Boxing attempts to make inroads into the sport. The four sanctioning bodies are conspiring against Dana White’s attempt to make inroads into the sport.
The lawsuit also includes a breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Opetaia argues that the IBF breached an “implied in fact” contract to sanction the Opetaia-Glanton fight. Implied-in-fact means that no official contract was written but was implied. The good faith and fair dealing claim argues the implied contract was enforceable and was broken by the IBF.
As part of the lawsuit, Opetaia request an injunction to keep the IBF from holding a cruiserweight title fight to determine a new champion and claims that he has hurt future prospective economic chances since he was stripped of the title.
Payout Perspective:
A lawsuit like this was likely to occur with Zuffa Boxing attempting to take over boxing. The lobbying of a new Ali Act to create a pathway for Zuffa to have its own belt and rankings is a threat to the current establishment held by the sanctioning bodies. Certainly, Nick Khan badmouthing the sanctioning bodies in a senate hearing earlier this year fanned the flames for this lawsuit. From the IBF perspective, Opetaia signed on with Zuffa Boxing and they were likely worried he’d either ditch the title or take it with him to Zuffa Boxing and the value of the title would mean less for the IBF. It also creates a Zuffa versus the old guard of boxing scenario which is on the horizon.
Notably, the lack of an actual contract to sanction the March fight seems ominous although the claim that Opetaia paid the fee seems to be a big question in this lawsuit. MPO will continue to follow.
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