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17 Ways to Fix Boxing…And Counting

While I love nearly everything about the “sweet science”, there are problems with it. The following is an outline to create a boxing commission to help fix the things wrong in the sport. I am offering my solution to the problem, and maybe together we can get some changes implemented to boxing. I don’t expect all of these to be embraced, but maybe they can help spark a dialogue. Here are my changes:

- Create an international commission with unified rules.  Commission would be headed by a commissioner voted upon by current fighters, trainers, and other boxing insiders.

- One title per weight class

Fighters and promotors would have to no longer recognize current sanctioning bodies for this to work. If all fighters agree to vacate those belts in exchange for being a part of this commission, it could be done. They would be giving up their belts in order to join a commission that offers insurance, regulation, and the best competition in the world. It would only take a few fighters before the rest joined in.

- Cut back on number of weightclasses

Currently 17 classes

105, 108, 112, 115, 118, 122, 126, 130, 135, 140, 147, 154, 160, 168, 175, 200, 200+

Cut down to 13 classes as follows:

Heavyweight - 210+
Cruiserweight - 210
Light Heavy - 185
Super-Middle - 170
Middleweight - 160
Welterweight - 150
Junior-Welter - 142
Lightweight - 135
Featherweight - 128
Super-Bantam - 122
Bantamweight - 115
Flyweight - 110
Strawweight - 105

This would help consolidate the talent a little bit, and reduce the class jumping that is hurting the sport right now. Class jumping results in too many vacated belts, which results in illegitimate champions.

- Change weigh-in procedures

Fighters must weigh-in within one hour of the fight, under the limit. This would be an attempt to cut down on fighters putting themselves at risk by not being in top condition leading up to the fight. It would also encourage fighters to fight closer to their walking around weight.

- All rankings will be formulated in public, meaning that there will be no surprise rankings. Rankings would be released weekly, similar to college football or basketball. Everyone should be kept informed of where each fighter is ranked. There could even be some expirimentation with a voting poll for the top 10 in each class, with voters selected from former fighters, trainers, and writers, picking the Top 10 each week. Throw in a Pound-for-Pound vote every month and you have some quality, media friendly press to get boxing back on SportsCenter each week.

What goes on right now in the alphabet organizations, as far as manipulating the rankings goes, is terrible. The WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO can only be called corrupt and greedy. Blame the promoters all you want, the root of boxing’s problems lie with the sanctioning organizations.

- No other belts will be allowed to be carried into the ring. Only the title of the new commission will be recognized. There will only be one belt per weight class. By this I mean, only one actual belt. If you lose the title, you have to give that man your belt. There may be a trophy or ring that you could keep to commemorate the win, but no longer will fighters get to keep any belt they’ve ever won. This could help create a situation where a belt has significant meaning and sentimental value. (Imagine Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. someday wearing the exact same belt his father wore.) The belts would be engraved with the new champion’s name after each new titlist, similar to the Stanley Cup.

- Fighters must fight fighters of similar experience, unless given approval.

In no circumstances should a fighter with 30 pro fights be fighting someone 1-7. And also, never should someone 8-0 be fighting someone 10-42. All fights must be approved by commission. Certain circumstances, like a 12-0 fighter with amateur experience could be allowed to fight someone much more experienced. You could create levels for fighters, even if just private for the commission to use, so that you never have an A-level fighter fighting a D-level fighter.

- Regulate medical protocols at ringside. Whether fighting in MGM Grand, Manchester, England, or an Indian Casino off TV, medical protocols should always be the same. The money the commission takes in would go to pay to make sure everything neccessary is in place for any sanctioned fight.

- Health insurance for active pro fighters. In a sport with as many injuries as boxing, fighters should be able to get the coverage they need. They should be required to take a physical before and after each fight, in order to keep accurate records of each fighter’s health. Boxers could then be covered as any full-time employee would be. This would conform to each fighter’s place of residence, so a fighter in the United States would have different coverage than a resident of Britain or Canada. But the point should be that no professional fighter is without coverage, especially for any fight related injuries.

- Regulate pay for trainers, cut men, and managers. These people should not be at the mercy of the fighter to receive their paycheck. Their cut should come out of the fighters purse before the fighter gets his check. Any additional pay would be up to the fighter.

- Fighters would apply for and maintain a “pro-card“, which would make them a professional boxer, therefore eligible for benefits. A fixed percentage of all boxing generated income would go to a fund that would establish benefits for all fighters, and contribute to the maintanence of the commission.

- Regulate gloves. 10oz. gloves for 150 pounds and up, 8oz. gloves for 142 and below. Gloves that are approved by the commission can be worn at the fighters discretion, regardless of his opponent’s choice of gloves. If the gloves you want to wear are on the approved list, you can wear them, simple as that.

- Allow approved sports drinks in the corners for all sanctioned fights

- Overhaul of judging system. Add three to five more judges per fight, seated slightly farther back than ringside judges. All cards would be added up, with cumulative points for each fighter determining a winner. Judges could then judge all fights on a card, rather than have 12-15 judges on a card that only do one fight each. I would not be against adding even more judges if it is deemed financially realistic.

- Regulate the money. For each fight, the money has to come from somewhere. Right now it comes from promoters and TV networks. This doesn’t have to change, it would just be regulated. Instead of promoters representing individual fighters, they would work for the commission as independent contractors. I understand that boxing is all about money and will always be. But by cleaning it up and regulating it, fighters stand to make more money because they will not be getting cheated.

I think the majority of pro fighters would be willing to pay money to the commission to be a part of it and know where every penny is going, while getting insurance and legitimacy in return.

Promotors and TV networks would still stand to make their money and serve as matchmakers. Every fight still needs to be made and needs a venue. Promoter would bid for the right to put a fight on, only instead of the promoter paying each fighter, they would pay the commission, which would then pay the fighter, trainers, managers, and everyone else involved. The promoters make their bid, incuding their cut and in the end, the best offer is acted upon. There is no reason why boxing should act differently than any other business.

- Form a union type of organization for the fighters, so that they are looking after the fighters interests and can negotiate with the commission.

- Bring boxing back to the mainstream. This one is mostly for just helping boxing in the United States. Boxing was bigger in the past than it is today because it had more exposure. With an organized commission, fights could be made independant of television. If the card is set, and the money is already in place, you could sell these cards to network television. There is a place for boxing on TV, the business just needs to be straightened out.

There are many more things that could be done to improve boxing. These are the basics changes that I feel are necessary to make boxing as good as it could be. Feel free to offer comments and suggestions on how to improve this list. I’ll consider it a work in progress until boxing is overhauled.

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