[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S735-S736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself and Mr. Bryan):
  S. 187. A bill to provide for the safety of journeymen boxers, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.


                   the professional boxer safety act

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased today to introduce the 
Professional Boxing Safety Act, a bill to make the professional boxing 
industry safer for boxers across America. This bill is identical to the 
version of this bill that was favorably reported out of the Senate's 
Commerce Committee as S. 1991 on September 23, 1994. I am also very 
pleased that Senator Richard Bryan is the prime cosponsor of this 
legislation, as he was last year. The professional boxing industry is 
obviously of tremendous importance to the residents of Nevada, and he 
has been a strong force behind this bills success.
  I have been an avid boxing fan for over 40 years. Boxing can be one 
of the most exciting and impressive tests of coverage and athletic 
skill that exist in the world of sport. To this very day, boxing is 
viewed by many disadvantaged, yet determined young men as their best 
and only chance to rise above bleak circumstances that most of their 
fellow citizens could not even comprehend.
  It is these men--some still teenagers, others who are in their 
forties and are at the end of a long career marked by much punishment 
and little reward--who are the object of this proposal. As a Senator, 
my legislative objective regarding professional boxing revolves around 
my desire to see that the exploitation of this group of brave but 
highly vulnerable athletes in our society is brought to an end. The 
Professional Boxing Safety Act will help accomplish this goal.
  The physical and economic exploitation I speak of is very familiar to 
people involved in the professional boxing industry, though it does not 
often come to mind of the general public. Many Americans may think of 
boxing only if a local hometown hero emerges, or perhaps when they read 
about the huge, multimillion dollar purses that are being battled for 
by today's greatest champions.
  Big pay days and widespread public acclaim, however, are never 
attained by the overwhelming majority of boxers. A large segment of 
professional boxers in America never make more than a $100 a night. 
Unfortunately, in State after State in our country, in gyms and arenas 
both large and small, there are many boxers who are being led into the 
ring to absorb more punishment shortly after they have been knocked 
out, battered, or when they are in need of medical attention. These 
unknown boxers often continue to fight long after their skills have 
eroded to the point where they cannot safely compete. The symptoms of 
the debilitating illnesses they are at risk for may not surface for 
years, so these men answer the bell, endure another defeat, and trudge 
on to the next town. As one journeyman boxer said, they exist in the 
sport solely as ``A body for better men to beat on.''

  The problems in professional boxing that the Professional Boxing 
Safety Act will address are as follows: First, we need to immediately 
shut down the dangerous and disturbing boxing shows that occur in the 
States that have no regulatory authority to oversee them These bootleg 
shows feature boxers who have no business being in the ring due to 
injury, advancing age, or lack of skills. Journeymen boxers routinely 
find themselves overmatched against a promising young prospect in need 
of an easy victory to boost his ranking, and their health and welfare 
is of small concern to unscrupulous promoters. This bill would require 
that all professional boxing shoes in the United States be held under 
the oversight of State boxing officials.
  Second, we need to ensure that no boxer fights in one State while 
they are under suspension in another. Unfortunately, it is commonplace 
for boxers in the United States to travel to another State when they 
are supposed to be serving a mandatory injury recuperation period, or 
to avoid a requirement for medical treatment. Some resort to using 
aliases or distorting their career records when presenting themselves 
to State officials. To put an end to these practices, the Professional 
Boxing Safety Act would require all State boxing commissions to issue 
an identification card to professional boxers in their State, and to 
honor all medically related suspensions of other State commissions.
  Finally, this legislation will strengthen the system by which State 
boxing officials share information on professional boxers and other 
industry personnel in order to prevent fraudulent and unsafe bouts, and 
to ensure that illegal and unethical practices in the sport are 
properly punished. The Professional Boxing Safety Act would require 
that State boxing officials promptly report the results of all shows 
held in their jurisdiction to the boxing registries that serve the 
industry. This will provide accurate and reliable information on boxers 
from around the world to State boxing officials, and make it easier for 
them to evaluate the career records and conduct of the boxers, 
managers, and promoters who come to their State.
  I would also like to emphasize what this legislation does not do. The 
Professional Boxing Safety Act creates no new Federal boxing authority 
to regulate the sport; it mandates no burdensome regulations upon our 
already under budgeted State commissions; it fosters no unnecessary 
Federal intrusion into legitimate business practices, and it requires 
no Federal funds and imposes no new tax on boxing events across the 
country.

[[Page S736]]

  The Professional Boxing Safety would be an effective and practical 
step for the Congress to take in addressing legitimate health and 
safety issues in the sport, and virtually everyone in the industry that 
I've discussed this proposal with seems to agree. I'm very pleased that 
last year the Association of Boxing Commissions, the national boxing 
organization which represents 35 State commissions across America, 
endorsed this bill, as did over 20 individual State boxing commissions 
and several major sanctioning bodies who wrote to me in support of it.
  This bill was developed with the advice and counsel of the most 
experienced and knowledgeable people in the industry, and I'm confident 
Senator Bryan and I have put forward an innovative and realistic 
measure to make professional boxing a safer, better, and more honorable 
sport. I look forward to its prompt passage by the Senate's Commerce 
Committee, and to its consideration by the full Senate sometime this 
year.
                                 ______