Can Boxing Corruption Be KO'd?

On Monday, the U.S. Senate, spearheaded by John McCain, voted to establish a federal boxing commission.

In theory, the commission would establish standards for issuing licenses to boxers and managers and take steps to protect boxer health and safety, which is sorely needed. The bill is in the hands of the House of Representatives now, and President Bush is said to support it.

Not all boxing enthusiasts agree that this is a good move, although their arguments seem a little too theoretical and hardly convincing.

The reality is that most major American sports are regulated in one way or another on a national basis. This is certainly true of football and baseball, the nation's two most popular sports, which are legalized monopolies.

It is also true that boxing is, in theory, regulated by state boxing and/or athletic commissions (or, in the case of most fights in Connecticut, native-American organizations).

But this is a big theory. It seems in practice, these commissions are more regulated by the major boxing promoters, than the other way around. Boxing's alphabet soup of regulating bodies is a joke, which endangers the health and safety of its athletes. The current system is designed to hide problems, rather than deal with them.

Will a national commission solve all of boxing's problems? Probably not. But it will create one set of rules and a national voice to enforce them. Problems can not longer be hidden in the deserts of Nevada or the obscure halls of an Indian gaming commission.

Boxing promoters will not be able to feed off of the weakest commissions, and an average boxer may have a real advocate of its safety.

In the long run, boxing will stay corrupt. It's just the name of the game. How honest and upfront can a sport designed to give others brain damage be? But in the short run, a national boxing commission might give boxers pensions, healthcare, and a more level playing field.

That's enough of a reason to do it.

The House should pass the bill and the president should make it a law.

Then people can go beat the crap out of each other with greater fairness and equity.

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