Senate examines boxing
Posted: Tuesday January 26, 1999 08:46 PM
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Sen. McCain also authored legislation in 1996 to strengthen health and safety measures, a piece of legislation that became law AP |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain, a boxing fan, has introduced
legislation aimed at protecting fighters from exploitation and
requiring more openness from promoters about their financial
dealings.
"We must prevent boxers from being cheated and the public
from being denied 'the benefits of a truly honest and legitimate
sport'," said McCain, R-Ariz., who submitted the bill late Monday
with Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.
The bill, named for Muhammad Ali, would restrict coercive option
contracts by which promoters control a boxers' career, such as
contracts forcing a boxer into a long-term deal in exchange for a
shot at a world title.
It would require promoters and organizers of major boxing events
to disclose more financial information and to inform state boxing
commissions of charges, costs and fees they take out of a boxer's
purse.
Identical legislation passed the Senate last October by voice
vote, but the House did not take up the measure before the session
ended.
In hearings last July, both World Boxing Council president Jose
Sulaiman and International Boxing Federation counsel Walter Stone
endorsed the bill, although Sulaiman voiced opposition to
provisions that would change the rating practices of boxing bodies.
McCain and Bryan in 1996 authored legislation to strengthen
health and safety measures followed by state boxing commissions.
That legislation became law.
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