Pennsylvania Code › Title 58 - RECREATION › Part I - State Athletic Commission › Subpart B - Boxing › Chapter 21 - PROFESSIONAL BOXING › Section 21.8 - Boxers

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) Professional
				  boxers shall be licensed by the Commission. The Commission will not license or
				  renew the license of a professional boxer unless the license application is
				  accompanied by a report from a Department of Health facility, a laboratory
				  possessing a permit from the Department of Health under 28 Pa. Code §
										5.11 (relating to permit,
				  requirements, application and conditions) or a report from a laboratory
				  licensed in another jurisdiction that meets the requirements to be issued a
				  permit under 28 Pa. Code § 5.11, and is acceptable to the Commission,
				  which indicates that the applicant has been tested for any virus, antibody,
				  antigen or etiologic agent determined to cause or indicate the presence of
				  human immunodeficiency virus and any other communicable disease and the results
				  of those tests were negative. The tests shall have been initiated no more than
				  6 months prior to the date of filing the application. A boxer whose application
				  for license has been denied has the right to a hearing before the Commission
				  under
				  2
				  Pa.C.S. §§
											501-508 (relating to
				  practice and procedure of Commonwealth agencies). The applicant shall apply, in
				  writing, to the Commission requesting a hearing. The Commission will conduct a
				  hearing within 10 business days from the receipt of the written
				  request.
(b) The Commission will
				  require each professional boxer under contract to appear in a contest under its
				  jurisdiction to be properly licensed and to be examined and certified by a
				  physician appointed by the Executive Director to be physically sound before
				  being permitted to engage in the contest. A commissioner, the Executive
				  Director or the ringside physician, upon the individual's own initiative as a
				  safety precaution, may require a professional boxer under the jurisdiction of
				  the Commission to undergo a general or an ad hoc physical or mental
				  examination, or both, for the purpose of determining whether or not the boxer
				  is fit to continue actively in the profession of boxing.
(c) Whenever a professional boxer considers
				  himself unable by reason of illness or injury to participate in a contest for
				  which he is under contract within the jurisdiction of the Commission, he, or
				  his manager in his behalf, shall promptly notify both the Executive Director
				  and the promoter of the event of the alleged condition of the boxer. The boxer
				  shall immediately submit written medical verification to the Executive Director
				  who may, if he deems fit, require the boxer at his own expense to undergo
				  examination by a physician selected by the Executive Director for further
				  substantiation of the averment of disability. If a contest to which a
				  professional boxer is under contract has been canceled and no suitable
				  opponent, as determined by the Executive Director, can be located, the boxer
				  shall be entitled to reasonable expenses as determined by the Executive
				  Director.
(d) A boxer shall be
				  considered to have been knocked out in a contest if he is counted out and he
				  may incur a suspension of up to 90 days. A suspension under this section shall
				  be mandatory if the boxer has been knocked unconscious or has received a
				  concussion. This mandatory suspension shall be removed only after the boxer has
				  been pronounced fit after undergoing medical examination by a physician.
(1) A boxer may incur a suspension of up to
				  30 days if he experiences a technical knockout without head injuries.
(2) A boxer may incur additional suspension
				  time upon recommendation of the ringside physician or the Commission's Medical
				  Advisory Board.
(3) A professional
				  boxer who is defeated in six consecutive contests, either within or outside the
				  jurisdiction of the Commission shall be required to undergo a medical
				  examination by a physician approved by the Commission, pending inquiry by the
				  Commission to determine the physical and mental ability of the boxer to
				  continue safely in the boxing profession.