By Tom Donelson
Boxing has been ruled by chaos for the past century, but as boxing falls behind other sports when seeking the public's attention, more and more boxing experts are looking at John McCain’s federal commission as the white horse to save boxing. There is no doubt that boxing's lack of a central body has hurt it's marketability and with promoters profiting from the present system; reform looks hopeless. McCain, a former boxer in the Naval Academy, views boxing as his personal crusade. McCain once explained, “Boxing is capable of grandeur. There's something about some match ups that's transcendent. Some of the greatest sporting events of the 20th century were the Muhammad Ali fights."
Boxing has a history of being run by local government agencies known as state commissions, they the set rules for how boxing operates within their jurisdiction. Nevada and New Jersey has two of the best boxing commissions and are the model for those pushing for an increased federal role.
The question is whether a federal commission would have better luck running boxing. One question is whether the federal government should even be involved in managing the sport. McCain's own response to his critics are; “professional sports have become about far more than the games. Sports and society are so intertwined that athletic scandals invariably have political or social consequences…the fact is that professional athletes are such incredible role models."
Congressman Joe Barton of Texas has countered, “Creating a federal commission to regulate a sport is a big step for Congress. The federal government simply can't solve all of society's problems. Introducing new federal regulations is never an easy task, and introducing a new regulator is even more challenging." There is an ideological battle dealing with McCain's boxing reform.
The lack of a true heavyweight champion, questionable ratings by sanctioning bodies as well as recent in-ring deaths have increased calls for the McCain bill's final passage but there are some serious problems with the McCain approach.
The Chief of the Illinois Commission, Sean Curtin, told me, “Having worked on the Illinois Commission for many years and being its Chief the last 5 yrs, I have seen too much politics with people that don't know boxing at all get assigned to make decisions. The Federal commission is a good idea if the Government appointed a person who knows the sport like a Larry Hazzard.” Others aren’t so certain that federal commission personnel would be any more effective in attracting top-notch boxing people than most state commissions.
One boxing writer countered, “the nationalization of regulatory control would present its own dilemma because it would likely do nothing more than take some of the inept bureaucrats from the state level and promote them to the national level, thus actually exacerbating the problem. And with thirty people earmarked for positions within this prospective national structure, there is little chance to avoid overall mediocrity; after all, there isn't exactly a "deep bench" out there.”
The lack of qualified people hurts and neither the leadership of Nevada or New Jersey have supported the McCain approach. Another problem is that many state commissions have failed on several occasions to even do the basics. Ringtalk’s Pedro Fernandez has chronicled the recent failures of the Arizona boxing commission in recent months. (Arizona is McCain home state and Pedro is a major supporter of the McCain approach but his own reporting shows a serious flaw with government control over boxing.)
Boxing is a worldwide sport and Europe has become a serious challenger to America’s previous dominance in the promotion of the sport. Boxing writer Rusty Rubin has told me one problem that he sees with a federal commission, is that many promoters may go overseas to escape federal control. While America is still the home of the big money fights, many European fighters have made a good living staying on their side of the Atlantic. While proponents of the McCain approach counters that the big money is still here, Rubin's own view is that McCain's approach will push more fights and even the bigger money fights overseas. Ali showed in the 70’s that even during the heights of his championship run, there was money to made overseas . Two of his biggest fights, “the Rumble in the Jungle” and “the Thrilla in the Manila”, were conducted outside the United States.
McCain and his supporters are right, boxing needs a central body to manage the sport while protecting the fighter. My own bias is that a federal commission will have similar problems that many state commissions presently have and quite frankly, it is not a proper role of the federal government to manage a professional sport. Boxing must save itself and there are trends underneath the present chaos that could lead to boxing's salvation.
