H. R. 1832

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,

the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand

An Act

To reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in the professional boxing industry.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform

Act’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Professional boxing differs from other major, interstate

professional sports industries in the United States in that it

operates without any private sector association, league, or centralized industry organization to establish uniform and appropriate business practices and ethical standards. This has led

to repeated occurrences of disreputable and coercive business

practices in the boxing industry, to the detriment of professional

boxers nationwide.

(2) State officials are the proper regulators of professional

boxing events, and must protect the welfare of professional

boxers and serve the public interest by closely supervising

boxing activity in their jurisdiction. State boxing commissions

do not currently receive adequate information to determine

whether boxers competing in their jurisdiction are being subjected to contract terms and business practices which may

violate State regulations, or are onerous and confiscatory.

(3) Promoters who engage in illegal, coercive, or unethical

business practices can take advantage of the lack of equitable

business standards in the sport by holding boxing events in

States with weaker regulatory oversight.

(4) The sanctioning organizations which have proliferated

in the boxing industry have not established credible and objective criteria to rate professional boxers, and operate with virtually no industry or public oversight. Their ratings are susceptible to manipulation, have deprived boxers of fair opportunities

for advancement, and have undermined public confidence in

the integrity of the sport.

(5) Open competition in the professional boxing industry

has been significantly interfered with by restrictive and anticompetitive business practices of certain promoters and sanctioning bodies, to the detriment of the athletes and the ticketbuying public. Common practices of promoters and sanctioning

organizations represent restraints of interstate trade in the

United States.
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(6) It is necessary and appropriate to establish national

contracting reforms to protect professional boxers and prevent

exploitive business practices, and to require enhanced financial

disclosures to State athletic commissions to improve the public

oversight of the sport.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this Act are—

(1) to protect the rights and welfare of professional boxers

on an interstate basis by preventing certain exploitive, oppressive, and unethical business practices;

(2) to assist State boxing commissions in their efforts to

provide more effective public oversight of the sport; and

(3) to promote honorable competition in professional boxing

and enhance the overall integrity of the industry.

SEC. 4. PROTECTING BOXERS FROM EXPLOITATION.

The Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6301

et seq.) is amended—

(1) by redesignating sections 9 through 15 as sections 17

through 23, respectively; and

(2) by inserting after section 8 the following new sections:

‘‘SEC. 9. CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.

‘‘Within 2 years after the date of the enactment of the

Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, the Association of Boxing

Commissions (ABC) shall develop and shall approve by a vote

of no less than a majority of its member State boxing commissioners,

guidelines for minimum contractual provisions that should be

included in bout agreements and boxing contracts. It is the sense

of the Congress that State boxing commissions should follow these

ABC guidelines.

‘‘SEC. 10. PROTECTION FROM COERCIVE CONTRACTS.

‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.— ‘‘(1)(A) A contract provision shall be considered to be in

restraint of trade, contrary to public policy, and unenforceable

against any boxer to the extent that it—

‘‘(i) is a coercive provision described in subparagraph

(B) and is for a period greater than 12 months; or

‘‘(ii) is a coercive provision described in subparagraph

(B) and the other boxer under contract to the promoter

came under that contract pursuant to a coercive provision

described in subparagraph (B).

‘‘(B) A coercive provision described in this subparagraph

is a contract provision that grants any rights between a boxer

and a promoter, or between promoters with respect to a boxer,

if the boxer is required to grant such rights, or a boxer’s

promoter is required to grant such rights with respect to a

boxer to another promoter, as a condition precedent to the

boxer’s participation in a professional boxing match against

another boxer who is under contract to the promoter.

‘‘(2) This subsection shall only apply to contracts entered

into after the date of the enactment of the Muhammad Ali

Boxing Reform Act.

‘‘(3) No subsequent contract provision extending any rights

or compensation covered in paragraph (1) shall be enforceable

against a boxer if the effective date of the contract containing
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such provision is earlier than 3 months before the expiration

of the relevant time period set forth in paragraph (1).

‘‘(b) PROMOTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER MANDATORY BOUT CONTRACTS.—No boxing service provider may require a boxer to grant

any future promotional rights as a requirement of competing in

a professional boxing match that is a mandatory bout under the

rules of a sanctioning organization.

‘‘(c) PROTECTION FROM COERCIVE CONTRACTS WITH BROADCASTERS.—Subsection (a) of this section applies to any contract

between a commercial broadcaster and a boxer, or granting any

rights with respect to that boxer, involving a broadcast in or

affecting interstate commerce, regardless of the broadcast medium.

For the purpose of this subsection, any reference in subsection

(a)(1)(B) to ‘promoter’ shall be considered a reference to ‘commercial

broadcaster’.

‘‘SEC. 11. SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.

‘‘(a) OBJECTIVE CRITERIA.—Within 2 years after the date of

the enactment of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, the

Association of Boxing Commissions shall develop and shall approve

by a vote of no less than a majority of its member State boxing

commissioners, guidelines for objective and consistent written criteria for the ratings of professional boxers. It is the sense of the

Congress that sanctioning bodies and State boxing commissions

should follow these ABC guidelines.

‘‘(b) APPEALS PROCESS.—A sanctioning organization shall not

be entitled to receive any compensation, directly or indirectly, in

connection with a boxing match, until it provides the boxers with

notice that the sanctioning organization shall, within 7 days after

receiving a request from a boxer questioning that organization’s

rating of the boxer—

‘‘(1) provide to the boxer a written explanation of the

organization’s criteria, its rating of the boxer, and the rationale

or basis for its rating (including a response to any specific

questions submitted by the boxer); and

‘‘(2) submit a copy of its explanation to the Association

of Boxing Commissions.

‘‘(c) NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE IN RATING.—A sanctioning

organization shall not be entitled to receive any compensation,

directly or indirectly, in connection with a boxing match, until,

with respect to a change in the rating of a boxer previously rated

by such organization in the top 10 boxers, the organization—

‘‘(1) posts a copy, within 7 days of such change, on its

Internet website or home page, if any, including an explanation

of such change, for a period of not less than 30 days; and

‘‘(2) provides a copy of the rating change and explanation

to an association to which at least a majority of the State

boxing commissions belong.

‘‘(d) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—

‘‘(1) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION FILING.—A sanctioning

organization shall not be entitled to receive any compensation

directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing match unless,

not later than January 31 of each year, it submits to the

Federal Trade Commission and to the ABC—

‘‘(A) a complete description of the organization’s ratings

criteria, policies, and general sanctioning fee schedule;

‘‘(B) the bylaws of the organization;
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‘‘(C) the appeals procedure of the organization for a

boxer’s rating; and

‘‘(D) a list and business address of the organization’s

officials who vote on the ratings of boxers.

‘‘(2) FORMAT; UPDATES.—A sanctioning organization shall—

‘‘(A) provide the information required under paragraph

(1) in writing, and, for any document greater than 2 pages

in length, also in electronic form; and

‘‘(B) promptly notify the Federal Trade Commission

of any material change in the information submitted.

‘‘(3) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION TO MAKE INFORMATION

AVAILABLE TO PUBLIC.—The Federal Trade Commission shall

make information received under this subsection available to

the public. The Commission may assess sanctioning organizations a fee to offset the costs it incurs in processing the information and making it available to the public.

‘‘(4) INTERNET ALTERNATIVE.—In lieu of submitting the

information required by paragraph (1) to the Federal Trade

Commission, a sanctioning organization may provide the

information to the public by maintaining a website on the

Internet that—

‘‘(A) is readily accessible by the general public using

generally available search engines and does not require

a password or payment of a fee for full access to all the

information;

‘‘(B) contains all the information required to be submitted to the Federal Trade Commission by paragraph

(1) in an easy to search and use format; and

‘‘(C) is updated whenever there is a material change

in the information.

‘‘SEC. 12. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES TO STATE BOXING COMMISSIONS

BY SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.

‘‘A sanctioning organization shall not be entitled to receive

any compensation directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing

match until it provides to the boxing commission responsible for

regulating the match in a State a statement of—

‘‘(1) all charges, fees, and costs the organization will assess

any boxer participating in that match;

‘‘(2) all payments, benefits, complimentary benefits, and

fees the organization will receive for its affiliation with the

event, from the promoter, host of the event, and all other

sources; and

‘‘(3) such additional information as the commission may

require.

‘‘SEC. 13. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES FOR PROMOTERS.

‘‘(a) DISCLOSURES TO THE BOXING COMMISSIONS.—A promoter

shall not be entitled to receive any compensation directly or

indirectly in connection with a boxing match until it provides to

the boxing commission responsible for regulating the match in

a State a statement of—

‘‘(1) a copy of any agreement in writing to which the promoter is a party with any boxer participating in the match;

‘‘(2) a statement made under penalty of perjury that there

are no other agreements, written or oral, between the promoter

and the boxer with respect to that match; and
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‘‘(3)(A) all fees, charges, and expenses that will be assessed

by or through the promoter on the boxer pertaining to the

event, including any portion of the boxer’s purse that the promoter will receive, and training expenses;

‘‘(B) all payments, gifts, or benefits the promoter is providing to any sanctioning organization affiliated with the event;

and

‘‘(C) any reduction in a boxer’s purse contrary to a previous

agreement between the promoter and the boxer or a purse

bid held for the event.

‘‘(b) DISCLOSURES TO THE BOXER.—A promoter shall not be

entitled to receive any compensation directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing match until it provides to the boxer it promotes—

‘‘(1) the amounts of any compensation or consideration

that a promoter has contracted to receive from such match;

‘‘(2) all fees, charges, and expenses that will be assessed

by or through the promoter on the boxer pertaining to the

event, including any portion of the boxer’s purse that the promoter will receive, and training expenses; and

‘‘(3) any reduction in a boxer’s purse contrary to a previous

agreement between the promoter and the boxer or a purse

bid held for the event.

‘‘(c) INFORMATION TO BE AVAILABLE TO STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL.—A promoter shall make information required to be disclosed

under this section available to the chief law enforcement officer

of the State in which the match is to be held upon request of

such officer.

‘‘SEC. 14. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES FOR JUDGES AND REFEREES.

‘‘A judge or referee shall not be entitled to receive any compensation, directly or indirectly, in connection with a boxing match

until it provides to the boxing commission responsible for regulating

the match in a State a statement of all consideration, including

reimbursement for expenses, that will be received from any source

for participation in the match.

‘‘SEC. 15. CONFIDENTIALITY.

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Neither a boxing commission or an Attorney

General may disclose to the public any matter furnished by a

promoter under section 13 except to the extent required in a legal,

administrative, or judicial proceeding.

‘‘(b) EFFECT OF CONTRARY STATE LAW.—If a State law governing

a boxing commission requires that information that would be furnished by a promoter under section 13 shall be made public, then

a promoter is not required to file such information with such State

if the promoter files such information with the ABC.

‘‘SEC. 16. JUDGES AND REFEREES.

‘‘No person may arrange, promote, organize, produce, or fight

in a professional boxing match unless all referees and judges participating in the match have been certified and approved by the boxing

commission responsible for regulating the match in the State where

the match is held.’’.

SEC. 5. CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

Section 17 of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15

U.S.C. 6308) (as redesignated by section 4 of this Act) is amended—
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(1) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘No member’’ and

inserting ‘‘(a) REGULATORY PERSONNEL.—No member’’; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(b) FIREWALL BETWEEN PROMOTERS AND MANAGERS.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for—

‘‘(A) a promoter to have a direct or indirect financial

interest in the management of a boxer; or

‘‘(B) a manager—

‘‘(i) to have a direct or indirect financial interest

in the promotion of a boxer; or

‘‘(ii) to be employed by or receive compensation

or other benefits from a promoter, except for amounts

received as consideration under the manager’s contract

with the boxer.

‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1)—

‘‘(A) does not prohibit a boxer from acting as his own

promoter or manager; and

‘‘(B) only applies to boxers participating in a boxing

match of 10 rounds or more.

‘‘(c) SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.—

‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON RECEIPTS.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), no officer or employee of a sanctioning organization

may receive any compensation, gift, or benefit, directly or

indirectly, from a promoter, boxer, or manager.

‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not apply to—

‘‘(A) the receipt of payment by a promoter, boxer, or

manager of a sanctioning organization’s published fee for

sanctioning a professional boxing match or reasonable

expenses in connection therewith if the payment is reported

to the responsible boxing commission; or

‘‘(B) the receipt of a gift or benefit of de minimis

value.’’.

SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT.

Subsection (b) of section 18 of the Professional Boxing Safety

Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6309) (as redesignated by section 4 of

this Act) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1) by inserting a comma and ‘‘other

than section 9(b), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 16,’’ after ‘‘this Act’’;

(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs

(3) and (4), respectively;

(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:

‘‘(2) VIOLATION OF ANTIEXPLOITATION, SANCTIONING

ORGANIZATION, OR DISCLOSURE PROVISIONS.—Any person who

knowingly violates any provision of section 9(b), 10, 11, 12,

13, 14, or 16 of this Act shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned

for not more than 1 year or fined not more than—

‘‘(A) $100,000; and

‘‘(B) if a violation occurs in connection with a professional boxing match the gross revenues for which exceed

$2,000,000, an additional amount which bears the same

ratio to $100,000 as the amount of such revenues compared

to $2,000,000, or both.’’; and

(4) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by paragraph 2 of

this subsection) by striking ‘‘section 9’’ and inserting ‘‘section

17(a)’’; and

(5) by adding at the end the following:
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‘‘(c) ACTIONS BY STATES.—Whenever the chief law enforcement

officer of any State has reason to believe that a person or organization is engaging in practices which violate any requirement of

this Act, the State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil action

on behalf of its residents in an appropriate district court of the

United States—

‘‘(1) to enjoin the holding of any professional boxing match

which the practice involves;

‘‘(2) to enforce compliance with this Act;

‘‘(3) to obtain the fines provided under subsection (b) or

appropriate restitution; or

‘‘(4) to obtain such other relief as the court may deem

appropriate.

‘‘(d) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any boxer who suffers economic injury as a result of a violation of any provision of this

Act may bring an action in the appropriate Federal or State court

and recover the damages suffered, court costs, and reasonable attorneys fees and expenses.

‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT AGAINST FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION,

STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL, ETC.—Nothing in this Act authorizes

the enforcement of—

‘‘(1) any provision of this Act against the Federal Trade

Commission, the United States Attorney General, or the chief

legal officer of any State for acting or failing to act in an

official capacity;

‘‘(2) subsection (d) of this section against a State or political

subdivision of a State, or any agency or instrumentality thereof;

or

‘‘(3) section 10 against a boxer acting in his capacity as

a boxer.’’.

SEC. 7. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS.

(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2(a) of the Professional Boxing Safety

Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6301(a)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (9) by inserting after ‘‘match.’’ the following: ‘‘The term ‘promoter’ does not include a hotel, casino,

resort, or other commercial establishment hosting or sponsoring

a professional boxing match unless—

‘‘(A) the hotel, casino, resort, or other commercial

establishment is primarily responsible for organizing, promoting, and producing the match; and

‘‘(B) there is no other person primarily responsible

for organizing, promoting, and producing the match.’’;

(2) in paragraph (10) by striking the period at the end

and inserting ‘‘, including the Virgin Islands.’’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(11) EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CONTRACT.—The term ‘effective date of the contract’ means the day upon which a boxer

becomes legally bound by the contract.

‘‘(12) BOXING SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term ‘boxing service

provider’ means a promoter, manager, sanctioning body,

licensee, or matchmaker.
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‘‘(13) CONTRACT PROVISION.—The term ‘contract provision’

means any legal obligation between a boxer and a boxing service

provider.

‘‘(14) SANCTIONING ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘sanctioning

organization’ means an organization that sanctions professional

boxing matches in the United States—

‘‘(A) between boxers who are residents of different

States; or

‘‘(B) that are advertised, otherwise promoted, or broadcast (including closed circuit television) in interstate commerce.

‘‘(15) SUSPENSION.—The term ‘suspension’ includes within

its meaning the revocation of a boxing license.’’.

(b) STATE BOXING COMMISSION PROCEDURES.—Section 7(a)(2)

of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6306(a)(2))

is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘or’’;

(2) in subparagraph (D) by striking ‘‘documents.’’ at the

end and inserting ‘‘documents; or’’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(E) unsportsmanlike conduct or other inappropriate

behavior inconsistent with generally accepted methods of

competition in a professional boxing match.’’.

(c) RENEWAL PERIOD FOR IDENTIFICATION CARDS.—Section

6(b)(2) of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C.

6305(b)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘2 years.’’ and inserting ‘‘4

years.’’.

(d) REVIEW OF SUSPENSIONS.—Section 7(a)(3) of the Professional

Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6306(a)(3)) is amended by

striking ‘‘boxer’’ and inserting ‘‘boxer, licensee, manager, matchmaker, promoter, or other boxing service provider’’.

(e) ALTERNATIVE SUPERVISION.—Section 4 of the Professional

Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6303) is amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘No person’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) No person’’;

and

(2) by inserting at the end thereof the following:

‘‘(b) For the purpose of this Act, if no State commission is

available to supervise a boxing match according to subsection (a),

then—

‘‘(1) the match may not be held unless it is supervised

by an association of boxing commissions to which at least

a majority of the States belong; and

‘‘(2) any reporting or other requirement relating to a supervising commission allowed under this section shall be deemed

to refer to the entity described in paragraph (1).’’.

(f ) HEALTH AND SAFETY DISCLOSURES.—Section 6 of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6305) is amended

by adding at the end the following new subsection:
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‘‘(c) HEALTH AND SAFETY DISCLOSURES.—It is the sense of the

Congress that a boxing commission should, upon issuing an identification card to a boxer under subsection (b)(1), make a health

and safety disclosure to that boxer as that commission considers

appropriate. The health and safety disclosure should include the

health and safety risks associated with boxing, and, in particular,

the risk and frequency of brain injury and the advisability that

a boxer periodically undergo medical procedures designed to detect

brain injury.’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.