Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act

The Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996

• The Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 established minimum health and safety standards for professional boxers. It also provided for limited federal oversight by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. Prior to the bill's passage, the boxing industry wasn’t regulated at all. The law requires boxers to have physical exams before fighting, and it requires them to have health insurance. In addition, a doctor must be present at ringside during fights. However, the law did nothing to address unethical practices in regards to contracts and bout agreements.

The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act

• Many boxers are uneducated and come from poor economic backgrounds. Because of that, it was easy for unethical promoters, managers and sanctioning commissions to take advantage of them. The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act requires the Association of Boxing Commissions to develop minimum provisions that must be included in all boxing contracts and fight agreements. Coercive contracts are banned, and boxers can no longer be forced to grant future promotional rights as a requirement for being allowed to compete in a mandatory bout. The law also puts a one-year limit on the length of a contract between a promoter and a boxer, and calls for sanctioning organizations to develop credible ways to rate professional boxers. In addition, it attempts to restrict anti-competitive business practices--and requires more financial disclosures to state athletic commissions.

Professional Boxing Amendments Act of 2009

• Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Richard Bryan, D-Nev., were the key sponsors of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. Sen. McCain also sponsored the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996. On Jan. 6, 2009, McCain sponsored yet another bill that would establish a U.S. Boxing Commission to administer the 1996 law. This bill would have required the USBC to establish and maintain a registry of medical records, denials and suspensions for all licensed boxers, and disclose health and safety information to boxers. However, the bill did not pass.

Criticisms

• Critics of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act and the Professional Boxing Safety Act say the laws haven’t done much to change the lives of boxers. They admit the laws try to address problems in the industry, but add that they don’t go far enough. For instance, the Professional Boxing Safety Act requires a doctor to certify a boxer’s fitness to fight--but doesn’t specify a standard of fitness. It also requires boxers to have health insurance, but doesn’t mandate how much. Most state commissions require so little insurance that boxers can end up in debt when they require surgery for a broken hand. The Muhammad Ali Act recognizes that boxing’s sanctioning organizations haven’t established credible criteria to rate boxers, thus depriving them of opportunities for advancement. However, rather than requiring sanctioning organizations to adopt viable criteria, they only suggest that they do so. Critics would like to see a single set of standards imposed from the outside rather than leaving decisions up to the individual state commissions.

Muhammad Ali

• Many people consider Muhammad Ali to be the greatest boxer ever. He won the heavyweight championship three times, as well as an Olympic gold medal as a light heavyweight. But in the early 1980s, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and doctors ultimately decided it was caused by injuries suffered while boxing. Following his retirement from boxing, he threw his weight behind several social causes and, in 2000, lent his support to the law that bears his name.