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Former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia is suing the International Boxing Federation, claiming he was stripped of his title for having participated in a Zuffa Boxing match portrayed as a title event.
The lawsuit, filed July 14 in a Nevada federal court, claims that the IBF violated the 2000 Muhammad Ali Reform Act and that the IBF conspired with boxing's other sanctioning bodies to harm Opetaia financially by stripping him of his title.
The Ali Act has been a point of contention between Zuffa and others in the sport over the past year as a revised Muhammad Ali Revival Act works its way through Congress.
Opetaia says in the suit that he wants to get his belt back after being stripped of it following his March fight against Brandon Glanton.
Opetaia had twice won the IBF cruiserweight belt -- in 2022 and then again in 2024, when he beat Mairis Briedis by unanimous decision. He then defended the IBF title four times leading up to his fight with Glanton on March 8 under the Zuffa banner, which he won in one-sided fashion. The Glanton fight was also for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight belt.
The lawsuit says the bout was only ceremonial in nature, not an attempt to circumvent title sanctioning by IBF or professional boxing's other three sanctioning bodies. It asserts that the IBF raised no objections in the days before the event but nevertheless was upset by title-like promotion surrounding the fight.
Eleven days after Opetaia beat Glanton, the IBF stripped Opetaia of its cruiserweight title.
The IBF initially sanctioned the Opetaia-Glanton fight, and the suit says Opetaia paid the IBF $73,000 in sanctioning fees the day before he was to fight Glanton. The suit says the IBF did not provide the requisite disclosures to the Nevada State Athletic Commission before accepting Opetaia's fees, as required by the Ali Act.
An IBF spokesperson declined comment Wednesday, saying the organization "will release a statement when it is appropriate." The Nevada State Athletic Commission did not immediately respond to an ESPN request for comment.
The suit accuses IBF executive director Daryl Peoples of having coordinated with other sanctioning body executives in "a scheme to inflict the maximum amount of reputational and financial harm on Jai, to punish him for signing with Zuffa Boxing."
The suit requests an injunction to keep the IBF from scheduling another cruiserweight title fight or naming a new cruiserweight champion until there is a resolution.
The lawsuit alleges the IBF should have known stripping Opetaia would hurt his efforts to land future big fights -- and potential title unification bouts.
It alleges that "the Big Four and their agents have acted -- and continue to act -- in concert to retaliate against Jai for signing with Zuffa Boxing."
Zuffa Boxing, run by TKO Holding Group and UFC CEO Dana White, have been pushing for the congressional approval of the new Ali Revival Act.
Opetaia's attorneys, TKO, the UFC and boxing's other sanctioning bodies did not immediately respond to ESPN requests for comment.
The current sanctioning bodies and other promoters throughout the sport have raised opposition to the Revival Act, claiming it could end up stripping the purpose of the initial Ali Act, which creates a separation between promotion and management of fighters as well as the prohibition of "coercive contracts" and other contract requirements.
If passed, the Revival Act would allow the formation of Unified Boxing Organizations, essentially a one-stop shop for promotion, ranking and sanctioning similar to the UFC in MMA. The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this year and now awaits Senate approval.
A separate version of the bill has yet to be introduced in the Senate, although commerce committee chairman Ted Cruz indicated in April he would be introducing a Senate version of the bill.
