Professional Boxing's Future: A Letter to Senator John McCain

The following is from a letter I sent to Senator John McCain about professional boxing and some ideas that may help promote a healthy future for the sport:

Dear Senator McCain,

Hello sir, my name is Christopher Leonard. I’m writing in regards to the state of boxing in the United States.

I understand that you’re not only a fan of boxing but also an advocate for the sport. I believe that you and I share the same passions, but as it relates to the sport, your elected position puts you in a unique position to be able to get something done for the sport within our lifetimes.

I appreciate your efforts for the pardon of Jack Johnson but this is something more important for not only the history but also the future of the great sport. The sport of boxing desperately needs to be regulated by a commission established by the government. For those that have died in the ring or due to subsequent injuries from the sport, for those with lifelong ailments/conditions and injuries as well as those that will likely follow, I believe a few central ideas will help in addition to the government regulation commission for boxing but also MMA (which I am not a fan of but the participants should also be protected).

Within the recent past there have been issues such as Antonio Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo being suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for having plaster of Paris on his knuckle pad in his hand wraps before fighting Shane Mosley in Jan. 2009.

The immediate suspicion is that this method of wrapping hands had also been used in Margarito’s victory over Miguel Cotto the previous year. Kermit Cintron (whose only two losses were at the hands of Margarito) also suspected this saying that he’d "never felt gloves that had felt like that before when being hit.”

There was also the issue of Luis Resto vs. Billy Collins Jr. in 1983, which Resto’s trainer had removed padding from Resto’s gloves and he beat Collins to a bloody mess and permanently damaged the young undefeated prospect’s eyes. Collins never fought again and ended up commiting suicide as a result of his depression from the way his life had changed from his fight with Resto.

I propose that ALL gloves, gauze, tape, Vasoline and coagulants used to stop bleeding should be given to the fighters/trainers in a sealed package by a member of the government controlled commission.

These items shall be in plain sight of the member of the commission from the time they are delivered, until the fighter reaches the ring on fight night. There was also the case of Edison Miranda vs. Andre Ward last year in which Miranda’s corner had their petroleum jelly confiscated from the corner in the middle of the fight because it was suspected that they had placed an unknown substance into the jelly in an attempt to blind Ward.

The results were not released to the public as far as I know of the tested substance after confiscation.

Another issue is the amount of punishment that boxers take before the fight is called to an end if it is not a knockout defined by the losing fighter not beating the full count of ten. There have been all too many cases of fighters taking mass amounts of punishment but never being knocked down, and at times fighting on until completion of the fight.

Most recently, Antonio Margarito suffered a brutal beating at the hands of Manny Pacquiao on November 13^th 2010. There needs to be more strict rules of a bout being halted in a one-sided fight. As it stands, it’s up to the fighter, trainer, referee or ringside physician to stop the fight, but there is not enough done because all of these issues are discretionary and subjective to their judgement.

Renowned referee Steve Smoger, for instance, is known for letting a fight go longer than other referees to see if the fighter who was taking punishment or who has been knocked down can fight back and stage a comeback within the fight.

I’m not knocking Smoger but this is merely an example of how the subjective nature of a fight being stopped may be a detriment to the fighter. I do not recall Smoger placing any fighters in any short term danger but there are others without the keen sense of when a fighter is truly hurt that endanger the fighter.

There are also the long term effects that have to be considered. Margarito still wanted to continue even though his eyes were nearly swollen shut but he hadn’t been effective in nearly four rounds before the 12^th round had ended. Pacquiao was even asking referee Lawrence Cole to stop the fight because Margarito was in such bad shape by the 11^th round.

I was ringside watching Burgos vs. Darchinyan in March 2007 in Carson, CA and Burgos was losing nearly every round before finally being knocked out in the 12^th round. Most of us sitting ringside believed that he had no chance to win and was taking a number of clean shots from the notoriously hard-punching Darchinyan. Burgos collapsed after the fight and was rushed to the hospital. He went into a medically induced coma and hasn’t fought since. He is doing well but this could’ve easily been prevented.

If fight fans ringside can make this judgement, why can't a referee or someone from a state athletic commission?

Earlier in 2009, Teddy Atlas, who is ESPN’s ringside analyst on Friday Night Fights, was practically yelling at the referee which could be heard by everyone watching to stop the fight because of the punishment that one fighter was taking. After more than 1 round of yelling, the fight was finally stopped. There was also a death after a Friday night Fights telecast of a fighter who fought bravely but collapsed after the fight due to the punishment taken. 

There also needs to be strict rules on drug testing. There has been the suspicion of Manny Pacquiao having taken performance enhancing drugs which caused his proposed fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. to be cancelled because they couldn’t agree on blood testing.

While this may have been nothing more than contract negotiations and pre-fight posturing, it raised an interesting point. There is no reason why this sport, above all others, doesn’t have thorough blood testing for the fighters. There have been numerous cases of a fighter testing positive AFTER a fight has happened including the very high profile fight between Oscar De La Hoya vs. Fernando Vargas in 2002.

This needs to be caught before the fight to protect the unsuspecting fighter from being subjected to the opposing fighter that has given themselves a dangerous and illegal edge from performance enhancing drugs. There is no reason why baseball has had thorough testing and hearings asking members if they’d ever used them but boxing has not.

I also believe that boxing should employ a “Three Strikes, You’re Out” rule as it relates to boxers who have been knocked out. As well as a rule that doesn’t allow a boxer to take over a certain number of punches in any one fight or an established number of punches over their careers. Compubox does provide accurate punch counts in real time. A fight should be stopped if a fighter takes over the determined amount of punches as determined by the commission to protect from fighters from brain swelling. Pacquiao landed over 400 power punches against Margarito in their fight. Nearly all of those were punches to the head of Margarito.

The “Three Strikes” rule should apply to fighters who have been knocked out. There is no evidence that being knocked out once are more prone to being knocked out again, however three knockouts for a career places a fighter into dangerous territory as far as long term brain damage is concerned.

There are usually signs after one brutal knockout of the fighter beginning to slur their speech or there’s evidence of motor skill deterioration. There are pre-fight check-in’s with physicians but these things are often overlooked and there is always the potential that members of the state run commission or the doctor’s themselves have been paid off to withhold information regarding the results of CT-scan’s and other testing. This definitely needs to be monitored by the government.

There should be round by round checks of the fighter’s pupils and overall condition between rounds by a physician to check for signs the fighter may be in a serious danger to their health. The normal fight fan recognizes these signs over television. There is no reason why these things shouldn’t be caught by the people in the ring between rounds. There are literally lives at stake.

Hopefully, these reasons are ideas that you can run with and push for a U.S. Government-controlled commission. There are many more issues that need to be addressed, but hopefully these provide a foundation for discussions that prove the sport is in need of changes to protect our fighters in fights here in the U.S. and hopefully beyond. These items do not place the sport in any danger of major rule changes that blemish or hinder the sport but merely protect and help the fighters to continue the sport that we love so much.

Thank you for all of your help Senator, God bless.

Fight fan,
Chris Leonard