IBF sues De La Hoya over sanctioning fee

Grace Leong

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

The International Boxing Federation sued former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya, his promoter Top Rank Inc., of Las Vegas and its founder, Bob Arum, alleging they failed to pay a $450,000 sanction fee for De La Hoya in the Sept. 18 welterweight championship fight against Felix Trinidad.

Trinidad defeated De La Hoya by a majority decision in the 12-round fight at Mandalay Bay Events Center, retaining his IBF world championship title and winning the World Boxing Commission welterweight world title from De La Hoya.

The District Court suit said Robert Lee, the IBF president, made an offer to Top Rank in a letter faxed Sep. 7 to Todd DeBoef, a Top Rank agent, to sanction the fight between De La Hoya and Trinidad. The winner of the match would become world champion for each of the sanctioning organizations, WBC and IBF, thereby unifying the title.

As a condition of the IBF's sanction, Top Rank was to pay a promoter's sanction fee of $3,500 and a separate sanction fee on behalf of De La Hoya in the amount of 3 percent of the boxer's purse, which was set at $15 million as part of a contract with the Nevada Athletic Commission, the suit said. De La Hoya's sanction fee totaled $450,000.

IBF alleged the defendants had accepted these terms, including a provision for the sanction fees to be paid to the supervisor of the fight, Robert Lee Jr., at a rules meeting held Sept. 17.

The suit said Top Rank's DeBoef had given an envelope to the IBF supervisor before the fight began, but it contained only the $3,500 check from Top Rank.

The IBF said the defendants, who allegedly ignored repeated demands for payment, were fully aware of its rules and regulations and had allegedly paid the sanction fee of 3 percent of the purse for two other boxers, Vassily Jirov and Dale Brown, who fought for the world cruiserweight title on the Sept. 18 undercard.

The IBF said the defendants were "unjustly enriched" because they refused to pay the $450,000 sanction fee despite having allegedly reaped financial benefits, including the $15 million purse and additional revenues from television pay-per-view sales of the fight.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.

The welterweight title fight was the first non-heavyweight fight to be bought by more than 1 million households. It generated more than $64 million in TV revenue, according to TVKO, the pay-per-view arm of HBO Sports.

The De La Hoya-Trinidad fight ranks as the third-highest grossing pay-per-view fight in history, surpassed only by two heavyweight title fights between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.