[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 171 (Wednesday, November 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16514-S16515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE PROFESSIONAL BOXING SAFETY ACT

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am very pleased the Senate passed 
S. 187, the Professional Boxing Safety Act, last night. This bill will 
make professional boxing a safer and better sport, and serve to protect 
the athletes who sustain this industry with their skill, dedication, 
and courage.
  This legislation is the product of over 2 years of consultation with 
dozens of State boxing officials, professional boxers, and concerned 
industry members. S. 187 is an effective and practical measure that 
will strengthen and expand the health and safety precautions to protect 
the welfare of professional boxers. It will also go a long way toward 
enhancing the integrity of the sport.
  I am deeply grateful for the strong support that Senator Richard 
Bryan of Nevada has lent to this effort. As prime cosponsor of S. 187 
and as a Senator representing America's premier boxing State, Senator 
Bryan's assistance on this issue has been vital to its progress.
  I would also like to thank Senators Pressler and Senator Roth for 
cosponsoring this bill. Chairman Pressler helped move S. 187 through 
the Commerce Committee, and Senator Roth has been a leader in bringing 
the issue of boxing reform before the Senate. Senator Roth and Senator 
Dorgan helped strengthen the bill with additional health and safety 
provisions, as well.
  I would like to speak for a moment on why the passage of boxing 
legislation is an important and necessary step for the Senate to take. 
Aptly described as ``the Red Light District of Sports'' some 70 years 
ago, professional boxing has continued to be an industry rife with 
controversy and scandal.
  I have been an avid fan of boxing since I was a teenager, and I look 
back fondly on my days of painful mediocrity as a boxer at the U.S. 
Naval Academy. I idolized Sugar Ray Robinson, and have closely followed 
the many great champions and challengers who have followed in his wake. 
At its best, professional boxing can be a riveting and honorable 
contest between athletes.
  Unfortunately, this standard of honorable competition is often 
ignored with respect to boxing in America today. Boxing continues to be 
corrupted by woefully inadequate safety precautions, fraudulent 
mismatches, and unethical business practices. The boxing industry has 
been justifiably tarnished in the public's eye due to individuals whose 
profit motives consistently outweigh their conscience.
  Instead of the health and welfare of each boxer being paramount, many 
professional boxers are treated as sacrificial workhorses whose long-
term interests do not count. This is especially true for the unknown 
club fighters who are the backbone of the sport. They live far out of 
the glare of the media spotlight, and box because it is the only way 
they know to make a living. A majority of professional boxers never 
make more than a few hundred dollars per bout during their entire 
careers.
  Many boxers are routinely subjected to excessive punishment and 
injury in poorly supervised events. These bootleg shows feature 
dangerous mismatches and few if any health or safety precautions. 
Instead of being allowed to heal during a mandatory recuperation 
period, injured boxers are often lured to another State to avoid the 
suspension. Finally, when they are too old or debilitated to even 
attempt to compete, journeymen boxers are quickly dismissed from the 
sport.
  There is no pension or medical assistance awaiting most boxers once 
they hang up their gloves. Indeed, their retirement often consists of 
nothing more than a steady and irreversible decline of their body and 
mind. This sad fate has faced literally thousands of boxers in America, 
and my overriding objective in introducing S. 187 is to prevent it from 
happening to future generations of boxers.
  There are two major reasons these abuses have not been curbed. The 
first is the absence of a private governing body in the industry to 
mandate proper safety regulations and ethical guidelines. Second, the 
State-by-State nature of boxing regulation in America allows promoters 
to hold unsafe boxing shows in States with weak or nonexistent boxing 
regulations.
  The Professional Boxing Safety Act will end this disturbing situation 
in an efficient and nonobtrusive manner. S. 187 will achieve the single 
most important step to make boxing safer: requiring State boxing 
officials to responsibly evaluate and supervise every professional 
boxing event held in the United States. Public oversight by State 
officials is absolutely essential to protect the health and safety of 
boxers.
  We simply cannot allow the business interests which dominate the 
boxing industry to sanction and supervise events which they themselves 
organize and promote. The final authority for the content and conduct 
of each boxing event must rest with State athletic officials--not 
promoters or sanctioning bodies. State boxing officials are responsible 
for protecting both the welfare of the boxers and serving the public's 
interest, and S. 187 will greatly assist them in this important work.
   Let me briefly describe the major provisions of this bill. First, 
all boxing events must be reviewed and officially approved by State 
boxing commissioners. If a State does not have a boxing commission--and 
currently six States in the United States do not--commissioners from a 
neighboring State must be brought in to supervise the event at the 
expense of the promoter.
  Second, each boxer competing in the United States will receive an 
identification card which will be tied into the private boxing 
registries which serve the industry. This will assist State 
commissioners in evaluating the career record and medical condition of 
each boxer coming to their State to compete.
  Furthermore, S. 187 requires all commissioners and promoters to honor 
the medical suspensions of boxers that have been ordered by other State 
commissions. This means no boxer can compete while suspended due to a 
recent knockout, injury, or need for a medical procedure. Commissioners 
will also be required to promptly share the results of the boxing shows 
they supervise with commissioners from other States.
  Several additional health and safety provisions were added to S. 187 
before it was passed by the full Senate. Licensed physicians must be 
continuously present at ringside for all boxing events, and an 
ambulance service must either be present at the site or have been 
notified of the event. Promoters are required to provide medical 
insurance for each boxer, as well. The 

[[Page S 16515]]

amount required will be left up to the discretion of each State.
  These reasonable measures are already required by most State 
commissions, but establishing them as national standards will protect 
those boxers competing in less carefully regulated jurisdictions.
  The U.S. attorneys in each State will enforce S. 187. The bill will 
empower U.S. attorneys to seek a temporary or permanent injunction 
against individuals violating this act. This will bolster State 
commissioners to resist the intimidation that results in dangerous and 
fraudulent professional boxing events.
  Let me clearly emphasize what this legislation does not do. Unlike 
other boxing reform proposals that have been introduced in the Congress 
over the last decade, S. 187 requires no new Federal or State tax 
dollars; establishes no Federal boxing bureaucracy; and imposes no 
burdensome regulations upon State officials.
  I am very pleased that S. 187 has received virtually unanimous 
support from every sector of the boxing industry. It has been 
enthusiastically endorsed by the Association of Boxing Commissions 
[ABC], which represents 35 State boxing commissions across the United 
States. Over 20 chief State boxing officers have written to me in 
support of this bill, ranging from prominent boxing States such as 
Nevada, Florida, and New Jersey, to smaller commissions such as 
Kentucky, Ohio, and my home State of Arizona.
  Most important to me, however, is the enthusiastic support I have 
received from professional boxers themselves. They bear all the risk of 
this violent profession, and they are the people I want to protect with 
this legislation. Legendary champions Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and 
Sugar Ray Leonard each wrote to me in support of S. 187, and I am 
deeply grateful to them.
  I also want to note the special participation of two extremely 
impressive boxing industry professionals in this effort. Mr. Eddie 
Futch, perhaps the greatest trainer of this era, and accomplished 
junior featherweight Jerome Coffee both took the time to testify on 
boxing safety before the Commerce Committee. They graced the committee 
with their experienced views, and I again extend my sincere gratitude 
to the both of them for their contributions.

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