106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1832

AN ACT

To reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in

the professional boxing industry.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1832

AN ACT

To reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in the

professional boxing industry.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 Reform Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) Professional boxing differs from other

7 major, interstate professional sports industries in

8 the United States in that it operates without any

9 private sector association, league, or centralized in10 dustry organization to establish uniform and appro11 priate business practices and ethical standards. This

12 has led to repeated occurrences of disreputable and

13 coercive business practices in the boxing industry, to

14 the detriment of professional boxers nationwide.

15 (2) State officials are the proper regulators of

16 professional boxing events, and must protect the wel17 fare of professional boxers and serve the public in18 terest by closely supervising boxing activity in their

19 jurisdiction. State boxing commissions do not cur20 rently receive adequate information to determine

21 whether boxers competing in their jurisdiction are

22 being subjected to contract terms and business prac23 tices which may violate State regulations, or are on24 erous and confiscatory.

25 (3) Promoters who engage in illegal, coercive,

26 or unethical business practices can take advantage
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1 of the lack of equitable business standards in the

2 sport by holding boxing events in States with weaker

3 regulatory oversight.

4 (4) The sanctioning organizations which have

5 proliferated in the boxing industry have not estab6 lished credible and objective criteria to rate profes7 sional boxers, and operate with virtually no industry

8 or public oversight. Their ratings are susceptible to

9 manipulation, have deprived boxers of fair opportu10 nities for advancement, and have undermined public

11 confidence in the integrity of the sport.

12 (5) Open competition in the professional boxing

13 industry has been significantly interfered with by re14 strictive and anticompetitive business practices of

15 certain promoters and sanctioning bodies, to the det16 riment of the athletes and the ticket-buying public.

17 Common practices of promoters and sanctioning or18 ganizations represent restraints of interstate trade

19 in the United States.

20 (6) It is necessary and appropriate to establish

21 national contracting reforms to protect professional

22 boxers and prevent exploitive business practices, and

23 to require enhanced financial disclosures to State

24 athletic commissions to improve the public oversight

25 of the sport.
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

2 The purposes of this Act are—

3 (1) to protect the rights and welfare of profes4 sional boxers on an interstate basis by preventing

5 certain exploitive, oppressive, and unethical business

6 practices;

7 (2) to assist State boxing commissions in their

8 efforts to provide more effective public oversight of

9 the sport; and

10 (3) to promote honorable competition in profes11 sional boxing and enhance the overall integrity of

12 the industry.

13 SEC. 4. PROTECTING BOXERS FROM EXPLOITATION.

14 The Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15

15 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended—

16 (1) by redesignating sections 9 through 15 as

17 sections 17 through 23, respectively; and

18 (2) by inserting after section 8 the following

19 new sections:

20 ‘‘SEC. 9. CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.

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

22 the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, the Association

23 of Boxing Commissions shall develop and shall approve by

24 a vote of no less than a majority of its member State box25 ing commissioners, guidelines for minimum contractual
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1 provisions that should be included in bout agreements and

2 boxing contracts. It is the sense of the Congress that State

3 boxing commissions should follow these ABC guidelines.

4 ‘‘SEC. 10. PROTECTION FROM COERCIVE CONTRACTS.

5 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—

6 ‘‘(1)(A) A contract provision shall be considered

7 to be in restraint of trade, contrary to public policy,

8 and unenforceable against any boxer to the extent

9 that it—

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

11 subparagraph (B) and is for a period greater

12 than 12 months; or

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

14 subparagraph (B) and the other boxer under

15 contract to the promoter came under that con16 tract pursuant to a coercive provision described

17 in subparagraph (B).

18 ‘‘(B) A coercive provision described in this sub19 paragraph is a contract provision that grants any

20 rights between a boxer and a promoter, or between

21 promoters with respect to a boxer, if the boxer is re22 quired to grant such rights, or a boxer’s promoter

23 is required to grant such rights with respect to a

24 boxer to another promoter, as a condition precedent

25 to the boxer’s participation in a professional boxing
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1 match against another boxer who is under contract

2 to the promoter.

3 ‘‘(2) This subsection shall only apply to con4 tracts entered into after the date of the enactment

5 of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.

6 ‘‘(3) No subsequent contract provision extend7 ing any rights or compensation covered in paragraph

8 (1) shall be enforceable against a boxer if the effec9 tive date of the contract containing such provision is

10 earlier than 3 months before the expiration of the

11 relevant time period set forth in paragraph (1).

12 ‘‘(b) PROMOTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER MANDATORY

13 BOUT CONTRACTS.—No boxing service provider may re14 quire a boxer to grant any future promotional rights as

15 a requirement of competing in a professional boxing match

16 that is a mandatory bout under the rules of a sanctioning

17 organization.

18 ‘‘SEC. 11. SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.

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

20 date of the enactment of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Re21 form Act, the Association of Boxing Commissions shall de22 velop and shall approve by a vote of no less than a major23 ity of its member State boxing commissioners, guidelines

24 for objective and consistent written criteria for the ratings

25 of professional boxers. It is the sense of the Congress that
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1 sanctioning bodies and State boxing commissions should

2 follow these ABC guidelines.

3 ‘‘(b) APPEALS PROCESS.—A sanctioning organization

4 shall not be entitled to receive any compensation, directly

5 or indirectly, in connection with a boxing match, until it

6 provides the boxers with notice that the sanctioning orga7 nization shall, within 7 days after receiving a request from

8 a boxer questioning that organization’s rating of the

9 boxer—

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

11 of the organization’s criteria, its rating of the boxer,

12 and the rationale or basis for its rating (including

13 a response to any specific questions submitted by the

14 boxer); and

15 ‘‘(2) submit a copy of its explanation to the As16 sociation of Boxing Commissions.

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

18 sanctioning organization shall not be entitled to receive

19 any compensation, directly or indirectly, in connection

20 with a boxing match, until, with respect to a change in

21 the rating of a boxer previously rated by such organization

22 in the top 10 boxers, the organization—

23 ‘‘(1) posts a copy, within 7 days of such

24 change, on its Internet website or home page, if any,
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1 including an explanation of such change, for a pe2 riod of not less than 30 days; and

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

4 explanation to an association to which at least a ma5 jority of the State boxing commissions belong.

6 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—

7 ‘‘(1) FTC FILING.—A sanctioning organization

8 shall not be entitled to receive any compensation di9 rectly or indirectly in connection with a boxing

10 match unless, not later than January 31 of each

11 year, it submits to the Federal Trade Commission

12 and to the ABC—

13 ‘‘(A) a complete description of the organi14 zation’s ratings criteria, policies, and general

15 sanctioning fee schedule;

16 ‘‘(B) the bylaws of the organization;

17 ‘‘(C) the appeals procedure of the organi18 zation for a boxer’s rating; and

19 ‘‘(D) a list and business address of the or20 ganization’s officials who vote on the ratings of

21 boxers.

22 ‘‘(2) FORMAT; UPDATES.—A sanctioning orga23 nization shall—

24 ‘‘(A) provide the information required

25 under paragraph (1) in writing, and, for any
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1 document greater than 2 pages in length, also

2 in electronic form; and

3 ‘‘(B) promptly notify the Federal Trade

4 Commission of any material change in the in5 formation submitted.

6 ‘‘(3) FTC TO MAKE INFORMATION AVAILABLE

7 TO PUBLIC.—The Federal Trade Commission shall

8 make information received under this subsection

9 available to the public. The Commission may assess

10 sanctioning organizations a fee to offset the costs it

11 incurs in processing the information and making it

12 available to the public.

13 ‘‘(4) INTERNET ALTERNATIVE.—In lieu of sub14 mitting the information required by paragraph (1)

15 to the Federal Trade Commission, a sanctioning or16 ganization may provide the information to the public

17 by maintaining a website on the Internet that—

18 ‘‘(A) is readily accessible by the general

19 public using generally available search engines

20 and does not require a password or payment of

21 a fee for full access to all the information;

22 ‘‘(B) contains all the information required

23 to be submitted to the Federal Trade Commis24 sion by paragraph (1) in an easy to search and

25 use format; and
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1 ‘‘(C) is updated whenever there is a mate2 rial change in the information.

3 ‘‘SEC. 12. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES TO STATE BOXING COM4 MISSIONS BY SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.

5 ‘‘A sanctioning organization shall not be entitled to

6 receive any compensation directly or indirectly in connec7 tion with a boxing match until it provides to the boxing

8 commission responsible for regulating the match in a

9 State a statement of—

10 ‘‘(1) all charges, fees, and costs the organiza11 tion will assess any boxer participating in that

12 match;

13 ‘‘(2) all payments, benefits, complimentary ben14 efits, and fees the organization will receive for its af15 filiation with the event, from the promoter, host of

16 the event, and all other sources; and

17 ‘‘(3) such additional information as the commis18 sion may require.

19 ‘‘SEC. 13. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES FOR PROMOTERS.

20 ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURES TO THE BOXING COMMISSIONS.—

21 A promoter shall not be entitled to receive any compensa22 tion directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing

23 match until it provides to the boxing commission respon24 sible for regulating the match in a State a statement of—
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1 ‘‘(1) a copy of any agreement in writing to

2 which the promoter is a party with any boxer par3 ticipating in the match;

4 ‘‘(2) a statement made under penalty of perjury

5 that there are no other agreements, written or oral,

6 between the promoter and the boxer with respect to

7 that match; and

8 ‘‘(3)(A) all fees, charges, and expenses that will

9 be assessed by or through the promoter on the boxer

10 pertaining to the event, including any portion of the

11 boxer’s purse that the promoter will receive, and

12 training expenses;

13 ‘‘(B) all payments, gifts, or benefits the pro14 moter is providing to any sanctioning organization

15 affiliated with the event; and

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

17 to a previous agreement between the promoter and

18 the boxer or a purse bid held for the event.

19 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURES TO THE BOXER.—A promoter

20 shall not be entitled to receive any compensation directly

21 or indirectly in connection with a boxing match until it

22 provides to the boxer it promotes—

23 ‘‘(1) the amounts of any compensation or con24 sideration that a promoter has contracted to receive

25 from such match;
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1 ‘‘(2) all fees, charges, and expenses that will be

2 assessed by or through the promoter on the boxer

3 pertaining to the event, including any portion of the

4 boxer’s purse that the promoter will receive, and

5 training expenses; and

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

7 to a previous agreement between the promoter and

8 the boxer or a purse bid held for the event.

9 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION TO BE AVAILABLE TO STATE AT10 TORNEY GENERAL.—A promoter shall make information

11 required to be disclosed under this section available to the

12 chief law enforcement officer of the State in which the

13 match is to be held upon request of such officer.

14 ‘‘SEC. 14. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES FOR JUDGES AND REF15 EREES.

16 ‘‘A judge or referee shall not be entitled to receive

17 any compensation, directly or indirectly, in connection

18 with a boxing match until it provides to the boxing com19 mission responsible for regulating the match in a State

20 a statement of all consideration, including reimbursement

21 for expenses, that will be received from any source for par22 ticipation in the match.

23 ‘‘SEC. 15. CONFIDENTIALITY.

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

25 an Attorney General may disclose to the public any matter
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1 furnished by a promoter under section 13 except to the

2 extent required in a legal, administrative, or judicial pro3 ceeding.

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

5 law governing a boxing commission requires that informa6 tion that would be furnished by a promoter under section

7 13 shall be made public, then a promoter is not required

8 to file such information with such State if the promoter

9 files such information with the ABC.

10 ‘‘SEC. 16. JUDGES AND REFEREES.

11 ‘‘No person may arrange, promote, organize, produce,

12 or fight in a professional boxing match unless all referees

13 and judges participating in the match have been certified

14 and approved by the boxing commission responsible for

15 regulating the match in the State where the match is

16 held.’’.

17 SEC. 5. CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

18 Section 17 of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of

19 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6308) (as redesignated by section 4 of

20 this Act) is amended—

21 (1) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘No mem22 ber’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) REGULATORY PER23 SONNEL.—No member’’; and

24 (2) by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(b) FIREWALL BETWEEN PROMOTERS AND MAN2 AGERS.—

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for—

4 ‘‘(A) a promoter to have a direct or indi5 rect financial interest in the management of a

6 boxer; or

7 ‘‘(B) a manager—

8 ‘‘(i) to have a direct or indirect finan9 cial interest in the promotion of a boxer; or

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

11 compensation or other benefits from a pro12 moter, except for amounts received as con13 sideration under the manager’s contract

14 with the boxer.

15 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1)—

16 ‘‘(A) does not prohibit a boxer from acting

17 as his own promoter or manager; and

18 ‘‘(B) only applies to boxers participating in

19 a boxing match of 10 rounds or more.

20 ‘‘(c) SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.—

21 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON RECEIPTS.—Except as

22 provided in paragraph (2), no officer or employee of

23 a sanctioning organization may receive any com24 pensation, gift, or benefit, directly or indirectly, from

25 a promoter, boxer, or manager.
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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not

2 apply to—

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

4 boxer, or manager of a sanctioning organiza5 tion’s published fee for sanctioning a profes6 sional boxing match or reasonable expenses in

7 connection therewith if the payment is reported

8 to the responsible boxing commission; or

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

10 minimis value.’’.

11 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT.

12 Subsection (b) of section 18 of the Professional Box13 ing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6309) (as redesignated

14 by section 4 of this Act) is amended—

15 (1) in paragraph (1) by inserting a comma and

16 ‘‘other than section 9(b), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 16,’’

17 after ‘‘this Act’’;

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

19 paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively;

20 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol21 lowing:

22 ‘‘(2) VIOLATION OF ANTIEXPLOITATION, SANC23 TIONING ORGANIZATION, OR DISCLOSURE PROVI24 SIONS.—Any person who knowingly violates any pro25 vision of section 9(b), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 16 of
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1 this Act shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned for not

2 more than 1 year or fined not more than—

3 ‘‘(A) $100,000; and

4 ‘‘(B) if a violation occurs in connection

5 with a professional boxing match the gross rev6 enues for which exceed $2,000,000, an addi7 tional amount which bears the same ratio to

8 $100,000 as the amount of such revenues com9 pared to $2,000,000, or both.’’; and

10 (4) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by para11 graph 2 of this subsection) by striking ‘‘section 9’’

12 and inserting ‘‘section 17(a)’’; and

13 (5) by adding at the end the following:

14 ‘‘(c) ACTIONS BY STATES.—Whenever the chief law

15 enforcement officer of any State has reason to believe that

16 a person or organization is engaging in practices which

17 violate any requirement of this Act, the State, as parens

18 patriae, may bring a civil action on behalf of its residents

19 in an appropriate district court of the United States—

20 ‘‘(1) to enjoin the holding of any professional

21 boxing match which the practice involves;

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

23 ‘‘(3) to obtain the fines provided under sub24 section (b) or appropriate restitution; or
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1 ‘‘(4) to obtain such other relief as the court

2 may deem appropriate.

3 ‘‘(d) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any boxer who

4 suffers economic injury as a result of a violation of any

5 provision of this Act may bring an action in the appro6 priate Federal or State court and recover the damages suf7 fered, court costs, and reasonable attorneys fees and ex8 penses.

9 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT AGAINST FEDERAL TRADE

10 COMMISSION, STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL, ETC.—Noth11 ing in this Act authorizes the enforcement of—

12 ‘‘(1) any provision of this Act against the Fed13 eral Trade Commission, the United States Attorney

14 General, or the chief legal officer of any State for

15 acting or failing to act in an official capacity;

16 ‘‘(2) subsection (d) of this section against a

17 State or political subdivision of a State, or any agen18 cy or instrumentality thereof; or

19 ‘‘(3) section 10 against a boxer acting in his ca20 pacity as a boxer.’’.

21 SEC. 7. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS.

22 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2(a) of the Professional

23 Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6301(a)) is

24 amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (10) by striking the period at

2 the end and inserting ‘‘, including the Virgin Is3 lands.’’; and

4 (2) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(11) EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CONTRACT.—

6 The term ‘effective date of the contract’ means the

7 day upon which a boxer becomes legally bound by

8 the contract.

9 ‘‘(12) BOXING SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term

10 ‘boxing service provider’ means a promoter, man11 ager, sanctioning body, licensee, or matchmaker.

12 ‘‘(13) CONTRACT PROVISION.—The term ‘con13 tract provision’ means any legal obligation between

14 a boxer and a boxing service provider.

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

16 ‘sanctioning organization’ means an organization

17 that sanctions professional boxing matches in the

18 United States—

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

20 different States; or

21 ‘‘(B) that are advertised, otherwise pro22 moted, or broadcast (including closed circuit

23 television) in interstate commerce.
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1 ‘‘(15) SUSPENSION.—The term ‘suspension’ in2 cludes within its meaning the revocation of a boxing

3 license.’’.

4 (b) STATE BOXING COMMISSION PROCEDURES.—

5 Section 7(a)(2) of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of

6 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6306(a)(2)) is amended—

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

8 (2) in subparagraph (D) by striking ‘‘docu9 ments.’’ at the end and inserting ‘‘documents; or’’;

10 and

11 (3) by adding at the end the following:

12 ‘‘(E) unsportsmanlike conduct or other in13 appropriate behavior inconsistent with generally

14 accepted methods of competition in a profes15 sional boxing match.’’.

16 (c) RENEWAL PERIOD FOR IDENTIFICATION

17 CARDS.—Section 6(b)(2) of the Professional Boxing Safe18 ty Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6305(b)(2)) is amended by

19 striking ‘‘2 years.’’ and inserting ‘‘4 years.’’.

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

21 the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C.

22 6306(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘boxer’’ and inserting

23 ‘‘boxer, licensee, manager, matchmaker, promoter, or

24 other boxing service provider’’.
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1 (e) ALTERNATIVE SUPERVISION.—Section 4 of the

2 Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C. 6303)

3 is amended—

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

5 No person’’; and

6 (2) by inserting at the end thereof the fol7 lowing:

8 ‘‘(b) For the purpose of this Act, if no State commis9 sion is available to supervise a boxing match according to

10 subsection (a), then—

11 ‘‘(1) the match may not be held unless it is su12 pervised by an association of boxing commissions to

13 which at least a majority of the States belong; and

14 ‘‘(2) any reporting or other requirement relat15 ing to a supervising commission allowed under this

16 section shall be deemed to refer to the entity de17 scribed in paragraph (1).’’.

18 (f) HEALTH AND SAFETY DISCLOSURES.—Section 6

19 of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 (15 U.S.C.

20 6305) is amended by adding at the end the following new

21 subsection:

22 ‘‘(c) HEALTH AND SAFETY DISCLOSURES.—It is the

23 sense of the Congress that a boxing commission should,

24 upon issuing an identification card to a boxer under sub25 section (b)(1), make a health and safety disclosure to that
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1 boxer as that commission considers appropriate. The

2 health and safety disclosure should include the health and

3 safety risks associated with boxing, and, in particular, the

4 risk and frequency of brain injury and the advisability that

5 a boxer periodically undergo medical procedures designed

6 to detect brain injury.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives November 8,

1999.

Attest:

Clerk.