Date: 2005-11-16
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. House Resolution 553 is a fair rule. It provides for consideration of H.R. 1065. the United States Boxing Commission Act. The rule allows for consideration of the amendments. all the amendments that were submitted to the Rules Committee. We are making in order all the amendments that were submitted to the Rules Committee. It also provides 1 hour of general debate. with 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary. The rule also provides one motion to recommit. with or without instructions. The underlying bill. Mr. Speaker. would establish a Federal boxing regulatory agency. the United States Boxing Commission. The commission would have the responsibility to protect the general interests of boxers. ensure uniformity. fairness. and integrity in professional boxing. and oversee all the professional boxing matches in the United States. The boxing commission. in consultation with the Association of Boxing Commissions. will formulate uniform minimum standards for professional boxing. The commission would also ensure that Federal and State laws applicable to professional boxing are enforced and will assist State boxing commissions in meeting the minimum .standards prescribed by the bill. The bill requires that every boxer. promoter. or sanctioning organization connected with a boxing match must obtain a license from the boxing commission. The license could be suspended or revokied for violations of the standards adopted by the commission. This bill does not preempt any existing State boxing standards. As I stated before. Mr. Speaker. what it does is it establishes a national boxing commission " really to oversee this sport. which is a sport of long tradition. but it is obvi: ously one that is peculiar in terms of its degree of violence. Mr. Speaker. when. I was a child. I remember I was living in Spain. We had a friend. my family had a friend.. who was in exile from Cuba. He was living in Madrid at the time. He had been welterweight champion of the world. He was a fine. gentle man. Really just an extraordinary human being. His name was Kid Tunero. He was very famous not only in�Cuba but throughout the boxing world. And I remember. and obviously this bill is not directly related to this that I am going to bring up now. but he impacted me in a number of ways. I remember his gentleness. It was impacting that a man who had made such a reputation as a champion boxer was perhaps one of the most gentle men that I have ever met. And he had two sons. and they were both artists. I do not know where they are today. At that time they were living in Paris. And he told me. I would do anything in the world. anything in the world. so that my sons are not boxers because of what you go through when you are a boxer. Not only the actual -physical torture. the physical pain. but having to deal with really much of an unfortunate set of circumstances. By the way. another aside. he was such a great boxer. Kid Tunero. in Madri!1 I remember. when I was a child. he was training a young man who became the flyweight champion of the world. and I met him. That was the only time I have ever been to a boxing fight. but I remember he got us really good seats. Imagine he was training Legra. and Legra got to be the flyweight champion of the world. Mr. Speaker. I will tell the Members I remember I was 9 years old and to this day I can tell the Members I was up ringside being shocked. and I can remember the shock that I felt at the violence. the violence of that sport. the physical pain that those two boxers were feeling. I have never gone back to a match. I respect it. There are millions. millions of fans. What we want to do with this legislation is set minimum standards for the protection of those people who make a living out of that tough sport. So even though Kid Tunero is no longer around. no longer with us. I think of him today and the lessons that I learned from him. how to be an ultimate gentleman. What a great man he was. Anyway. that is what we are doing -with the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker. The will of the House Will be manifested today. and people can either establish or not establish the boxing commission. but we are bringing forth that legislation with this rule. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.