A major change to the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 is being introduced through a new bi-partisan bill in Congress that could clear the way for UFC style promotion in the sport of boxing.<\/p>\n
The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which was endorsed by the Association of Boxing Commissions, was presented on Wednesday by U.S. representatives Brian Jack (R-GA-03) and Sharice Davids (D-KS-03). Davids is a former MMA fighter who was elected to represent the state of Kansas in Congress back in 2019.<\/p>\n
Under the proposed legislation, the update to the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 would allow for the creation of United Boxing Organizations (UBO), which would serve as an alternative to the current sanctioning bodies like the WBA, WBC and IBF.<\/p>\n
The proposed bill would allow UBO\u2019s to effectively operate just like the UFC does in the sport of MMA. The language below spells out how UBO\u2019s would work differently from the traditional boxing model.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnified Boxing Organization \u2026 means an association, a league, or a centralized industry organization in the private sector that organizes a professional boxing match in a system in which a boxer under contract with such association, league or centralized industry organization competes against another such boxer pursuant to unified rules and without reliance on a sanctioning organization operating independently of such association, league or centralized industry organization, implements a system for title belts and ranking for boxers under contract with such association, league or centralized industry organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
A UBO could promote events, maintain rankings and hand out UBO specific title belts just like the UFC does in MMA.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a former MMA fighter, I know firsthand the physical and financial risks that come with stepping into the ring,\u201d Congresswoman Davids said in a statement. \u201cThis bipartisan bill is about giving professional boxers the protections, opportunities, and freedom of choice they deserve. I\u2019m proud to work across the aisle to help strengthen the future of American boxing and ensure athletes are treated fairly and safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the creation of UBO\u2019s, the proposed amendment would also establish a minimum per round payment due to boxers at $150. While that might not sound like much, many states don\u2019t have a minimum set up so promoters are allowed to pay whatever they want, which typically affects boxers early in their careers.<\/p>\n
Part of the bill also establishes higher insurance coverage for fighters.<\/p>\n
But the main crux of the bill comes down to creating the UBO\u2019s, which is touted as a way to add new \u201chealth and safety protections\u201d as well as \u201ccomprehensive anti-doping testing programs\u201d and \u201cstrict anti-betting policies.\u201d Under the bill, UBO\u2019s \u201cwould not charge boxers any fees for placement in the rankings or the right to participate in championship matches.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Association of Boxing Commissions Board of Directors is in unanimous support of the new Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act,\u201d Michael Mazzulli, president of the Association of Boxing Commissions, said in a release. \u201cThis new legislation provides much-needed updates to the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 by enhancing the medical standards that protect boxers, establishing a national minimum payment per round, and defining national minimum health insurance requirements. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis bill will mitigate the exploitation of the debut fighter and of all professional fighters that participate in the sweet science of pugilism.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Muhammad Ali Act, which was made law in 2000 wouldn\u2019t be altered, overall updates to the way government oversight has handled boxing has long been in the works after TKO Group Holdings \u2014 parent company to the UFC \u2014 announced plans to get involved in the sport of boxing. TKO Boxing was just approved for a promoter\u2019s license in Nevada on Wednesday with plans to launch with the upcoming Canelo Alvarez<\/a> vs. Terence Crawford<\/a> fight in September.<\/p>\n Zuffa Boxing, the organization operating under TKO Boxing, is backed financially through Saudi Arabia and the General Entertainment Fund headed up by Turki Alalshikh.<\/p>\n If the bill passes through Congress, it would land on President Donald Trump\u2019s desk for approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major change to the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 is being introduced through a new bi-partisan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[18734,64,63,13884,802,1920,2651,9338,786,585,4717,18733,1347,785,3127,16570,85,18735,319,787,1396],"class_list":["post-17626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-aims","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bill","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-bring","tag-congress","tag-fighting","tag-front-page","tag-in","tag-introduced","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-new","tag-regulation","tag-sports","tag-style","tag-to","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}