WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. has taken his long-time promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, to federal court—claiming that behind-the-scenes chaos, missed opportunities and public blowups derailed his momentum at a critical moment in his career. The lawsuit was filed in Nevada. At the center of the dispute is Ortiz’s promotional agreement with Golden Boy, which he signed in May 2024. The deal extended Golden Boy’s rights for three years, guaranteed Ortiz million-dollar minimum purses, and was built around Golden Boy’s long-term broadcast relationship with DAZN. Here are the key allegations contained in Ortiz's legal complaint, which at this time are treated as unproven allegations:
Ortiz alleges Golden Boy's relatinship with DAZN was a key reason he stayed with Golden Boy in the first place. Fast forward to the end of 2025. Golden Boy’s DAZN deal expired on December 31st, and Ortiz moved quickly. On January 8, 2026, he exercised a clause in his contract allowing him to walk away if Golden Boy lost its exclusive broadcaster. Golden Boy acknowledged that the DAZN deal had ended (this weekend's DAZN show was a one-off with Golden Boy, not part of any long-term deal). Golden Boy took the position that ongoing negotiations for a new DAZN agreement meant Ortiz was still tied to the company. Ortiz disagrees, and the timing is everything. According to the complaint, his team believed that uncertainty over Golden Boy’s broadcast future—and Golden Boy’s strained relationships across the sport—were already costing him major fights and major money.
The biggest missed opportunity, Ortiz claims, was a potential showdown with former welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis. After Ortiz’s November 2025 win over Erickson Lubin, Ennis entered the ring for a face-off, and both fighters publicly said they wanted to fight each other. It was widely viewed as one of the best match-ups the sport of boxing could make across weight classes.
Ortiz wanted Golden Boy to negotiate with Ennis’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing, and hoped the bout could attract backing from Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, the head of the government's General Entertainment Authority. Alalshikh has poured massive money into elite boxing events over the last few years. According to the lawsuit, Ortiz believed a Saudi-backed Ortiz-Ennis fight could have been career-defining.
Instead, Ortiz alleges, Golden Boy sabotaged those possibilities. The complaint points to Golden Boy's principal, Oscar De La Hoya and the public attacks he has made on Alalshikh and the Saudi-backed Zuffa Boxing venture—attacks made on social media during the very period Ortiz’s team was hoping to attract Saudi interest. Ortiz claims those outbursts poisoned the well, making him less attractive to deep-pocketed backers through no fault of his own.
Things escalated in December 2025. Ortiz says Golden Boy presented him with only one fight option—Ennis—despite a contract requirement that required Golden Boy to offer multiple opponents. Worse, Ortiz alleges he was threatened with being “benched” if he didn’t accept the terms and warned that Golden Boy would publicly blame him if the fight fell apart. According to the complaint, Ortiz later learned that Golden Boy, Matchroom and DAZN had already reached written terms for the Ennis fight—terms that were never shared with him, even though his contract required full disclosure and his signature on any deal involving his fights.
After Ortiz terminated the promotional agreement in January, the conflict spilled into public view. De La Hoya posted Instagram videos setting deadlines and monetary demands for the Ennis fight, then declaring negotiations dead when those deadlines passed. Ortiz says none of this was authorized and that Golden Boy no longer had the right to speak for him.
When Ortiz’s manager Rick Mirigian publicly invited other promoters to reach out, De La Hoya responded by asserting control over negotiations and threatening legal action. Ortiz claims these public power plays were designed to create confusion in the industry and scare off potential partners—effectively freezing his career during what should be his prime earning years.
The lawsuit asks the court to confirm that Ortiz is free from Golden Boy and to award damages for lost fights, purses, sponsorships, and momentum. But for boxing fans, the real takeaway is bigger than legal language: this case highlights how promoter politics, broadcast uncertainty, and personal grudges can derail elite fighters—and how even an undefeated champion can find himself fighting outside the ring just to get the biggest fights made.
