II
Calendar No. 421
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1832
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NOVEMBER 9, 1999
Received
NOVEMBER 19, 1999
Read twice and placed on the calendar
AN ACT
To reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in the
professional boxing industry.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
HR 1832 PCS
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 in-
dustry organization to establish uniform and appro-
priate 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 wel-
fare of professional boxers and serve the public in-
terest by closely supervising boxing activity in their
jurisdiction. State boxing commissions do not cur-
rently receive adequate information to determine
whether boxers competing in their jurisdiction are
being subjected to contract terms and business prac-
tices which may violate State regulations, or are on-
erous and confiscatory.
(3) Promoters who engage in illegal, coercive,
or unethical business practices can take advantage
HR 1832 PCS
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 estab-
lished credible and objective criteria to rate profes-
sional boxers, and operate with virtually no industry
or public oversight. Their ratings are susceptible to
manipulation, have deprived boxers of fair opportu-
nities 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 re-
strictive and anticompetitive business practices of
certain promoters and sanctioning bodies, to the det-
riment of the athletes and the ticket-buying public.
Common practices of promoters and sanctioning or-
ganizations represent restraints of interstate trade
in the United States.
(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.
HR 1832 PCS
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to protect the rights and welfare of profes-
sional 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 profes-
sional 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 shall develop and shall approve by
a vote of no less than a majority of its member State box-
ing commissioners, guidelines for minimum contractual
HR 1832 PCS
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 con-
tract pursuant to a coercive provision described
in subparagraph (B).
‘‘(B) A coercive provision described in this sub-
paragraph 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 re-
quired 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
HR 1832 PCS
match against another boxer who is under contract
to the promoter.
‘‘(2) This subsection shall only apply to con-
tracts entered into after the date of the enactment
of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.
‘‘(3) No subsequent contract provision extend-
ing any rights or compensation covered in paragraph
(1) shall be enforceable against a boxer if the effec-
tive date of the contract containing 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 re-
quire 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.
‘‘SEC. 11. SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.
‘‘(a) OBJECTIVE CRITERIA.—Within 2 years after the
date of the enactment of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Re-
form Act, the Association of Boxing Commissions shall de-
velop and shall approve by a vote of no less than a major-
ity 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
HR 1832 PCS
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 orga-
nization 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 As-
sociation 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,
HR 1832 PCS
including an explanation of such change, for a pe-
riod 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 ma-
jority of the State boxing commissions belong.
‘‘(d) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—
‘‘(1) FTC FILING.—A sanctioning organization
shall not be entitled to receive any compensation di-
rectly 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 organi-
zation’s ratings criteria, policies, and general
sanctioning fee schedule;
‘‘(B) the bylaws of the organization;
‘‘(C) the appeals procedure of the organi-
zation for a boxer’s rating; and
‘‘(D) a list and business address of the or-
ganization’s officials who vote on the ratings of
boxers.
‘‘(2) FORMAT; UPDATES.—A sanctioning orga-
nization shall—
‘‘(A) provide the information required
under paragraph (1) in writing, and, for any
HR 1832 PCS
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 in-
formation submitted.
‘‘(3) FTC 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 sub-
mitting the information required by paragraph (1)
to the Federal Trade Commission, a sanctioning or-
ganization 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 Commis-
sion by paragraph (1) in an easy to search and
use format; and
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(C) is updated whenever there is a mate-
rial change in the information.
‘‘SEC. 12. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES TO STATE BOXING COM-
MISSIONS BY SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS.
‘‘A sanctioning organization shall not be entitled to
receive any compensation directly or indirectly in connec-
tion 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 organiza-
tion will assess any boxer participating in that
match;
‘‘(2) all payments, benefits, complimentary ben-
efits, and fees the organization will receive for its af-
filiation with the event, from the promoter, host of
the event, and all other sources; and
‘‘(3) such additional information as the commis-
sion may require.
‘‘SEC. 13. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES FOR PROMOTERS.
‘‘(a) DISCLOSURES TO THE BOXING COMMISSIONS.—
A promoter shall not be entitled to receive any compensa-
tion directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing
match until it provides to the boxing commission respon-
sible for regulating the match in a State a statement of—
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(1) a copy of any agreement in writing to
which the promoter is a party with any boxer par-
ticipating 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
‘‘(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 pro-
moter 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 con-
sideration that a promoter has contracted to receive
from such match;
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(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 AT-
TORNEY 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 REF-
EREES.
‘‘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 com-
mission 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 par-
ticipation in the match.
‘‘SEC. 15. CONFIDENTIALITY.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Neither a boxing commission or
an Attorney General may disclose to the public any matter
HR 1832 PCS
furnished by a promoter under section 13 except to the
extent required in a legal, administrative, or judicial pro-
ceeding.
‘‘(b) EFFECT OF CONTRARY STATE LAW.—If a State
law governing a boxing commission requires that informa-
tion 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—
(1) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘No mem-
ber’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘(a) 
REGULATORY
PER-
SONNEL.—No member’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(b) FIREWALL BETWEEN PROMOTERS AND MAN-
AGERS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for—
‘‘(A) a promoter to have a direct or indi-
rect financial interest in the management of a
boxer; or
‘‘(B) a manager—
‘‘(i) to have a direct or indirect finan-
cial interest in the promotion of a boxer; or
‘‘(ii) to be employed by or receive
compensation or other benefits from a pro-
moter, except for amounts received as con-
sideration 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 com-
pensation, gift, or benefit, directly or indirectly, from
a promoter, boxer, or manager.
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not
apply to—
‘‘(A) the receipt of payment by a promoter,
boxer, or manager of a sanctioning organiza-
tion’s published fee for sanctioning a profes-
sional 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 Box-
ing 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 fol-
lowing:
‘‘(2) VIOLATION OF ANTIEXPLOITATION, SANC-
TIONING
ORGANIZATION, OR
DISCLOSURE
PROVI-
SIONS.—Any person who knowingly violates any pro-
vision of section 9(b), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 16 of
HR 1832 PCS
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 rev-
enues for which exceed $2,000,000, an addi-
tional amount which bears the same ratio to
$100,000 as the amount of such revenues com-
pared to $2,000,000, or both.’’; and
(4) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by para-
graph 2 of this subsection) by striking ‘‘section 9’’
and inserting ‘‘section 17(a)’’; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(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 sub-
section (b) or appropriate restitution; or
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(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 appro-
priate Federal or State court and recover the damages suf-
fered, court costs, and reasonable attorneys fees and ex-
penses.
‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT
AGAINST
FEDERAL
TRADE
COMMISSION, STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL, ETC.—Noth-
ing in this Act authorizes the enforcement of—
‘‘(1) any provision of this Act against the Fed-
eral 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 agen-
cy or instrumentality thereof; or
‘‘(3) section 10 against a boxer acting in his ca-
pacity 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—
HR 1832 PCS
(1) in paragraph (10) by striking the period at
the end and inserting ‘‘, including the Virgin Is-
lands.’’; and
(2) 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, man-
ager, sanctioning body, licensee, or matchmaker.
‘‘(13) CONTRACT PROVISION.—The term ‘con-
tract 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 pro-
moted, or broadcast (including closed circuit
television) in interstate commerce.
HR 1832 PCS
‘‘(15) SUSPENSION.—The term ‘suspension’ in-
cludes 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 ‘‘docu-
ments.’’ at the end and inserting ‘‘documents; or’’;
and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(E) unsportsmanlike conduct or other in-
appropriate behavior inconsistent with generally
accepted methods of competition in a profes-
sional boxing match.’’.
(c) 
RENEWAL
PERIOD
FOR
IDENTIFICATION
CARDS.—Section 6(b)(2) of the Professional Boxing Safe-
ty 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’’.
HR 1832 PCS
(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 fol-
lowing:
‘‘(b) For the purpose of this Act, if no State commis-
sion is available to supervise a boxing match according to
subsection (a), then—
‘‘(1) the match may not be held unless it is su-
pervised by an association of boxing commissions to
which at least a majority of the States belong; and
‘‘(2) any reporting or other requirement relat-
ing to a supervising commission allowed under this
section shall be deemed to refer to the entity de-
scribed 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:
‘‘(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 sub-
section (b)(1), make a health and safety disclosure to that
HR 1832 PCS
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.’’.
Passed the House of Representatives November 8,
1999.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.
Calendar No. 421
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1832
AN ACT
To reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in
the professional boxing industry.
NOVEMBER 19, 1999
Read twice and placed on the calendar