January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

accomplishing uniform medical requirements.Unlike other professional
sports, boxing has no centralized governing body. It is regulated entirely by
state commissions. But bills introduced in January in both the House and Senate
would establish a three-member U.S. Boxing Commission, appointed by the
president, to oversee the sport.The bill's Senate sponsor, Arizona
Republican John McCain, has been pushing such a step for years. Once a boxer,
McCain has argued that fighters are vulnerable as "the least educated and most
exploited athletes in our nation" and that the sport has been plagued by "fraud,
corruption and ineffective regulation."His current bill is nearly
identical to one he sponsored and successfully guided through the Senate in
2004, only to see it die in the House, where Republican leaders have balked at
the idea of federal regulation of boxing.Under McCain's bill, the
national commission would license all professional boxers and maintain a medical
registry of them. It also would "promulgate uniform standards for professional
boxing" and "enhance physical, medical, financial and other safeguards" to
protect professional boxers, the bill says.The federal commission would
have jurisdiction over all professional boxing, but would leave regulation of
most fights to state commissions. The bill cleared the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation in March.George Otto, general
counsel for the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing and
legislative representative for the Jerry Quarry Foundation for Pugilistic
Dementia, said both groups support the idea of a central, national authority for
boxing.But both also believe that "anybody who turns a profit in a
boxing match" should be considered a promoter of the fight and be held
responsible for how it is staged, he said.That would include cable
television networks that broadcast fights, and the casinos and hotels where they
are held, Otto said.McCain has opposed that position, Otto said, and his
bill does not include networks, hotels and casinos in the definition of a
promoter.However, his bill -- unlike its 2004 version -- provides for
congressional hearings on how to define a promoter. |
|6/18/05 02:18:29 PM|Bob Bumbera|NC||renfbera@aol.com||||10|The knock on Lewis
has been his supposedly weak chin. He got clocked by McCall and Rahman, both of
whom are hard right hand punchers. Both times Lewis got up and was ready to
continue when the ref waived the fight off. Lewis was in much better shape than
Holmes was when he was knocked down by Shavers and Snipes. If the Holmes fights
were held today they would have both been stopped by the more cautious refs we
have today. In both cases, Rahman and McCall, I think Lewis should have been
allowed to continue to defend his title. The outcome may have been much
different in those fights if Lewis had to fight for his life as Holmes did. |
|6/18/05 05:04:55 PM|ted|san jose||tedfish2@hotmail.com||||10|To Angelo - I
admit, Holmes was a great champion. However, I thought he lost the first fight
to Spinks, and in my mind he should have not only won but should have won
decisively being the heavyweight champ. I agree that he was robbed in the
rematch. The problem with Holmes is he fought in an era that was devoid of
interesting circumstances relative to the fighters. (See my post awhile back on
this.)None of the fighters names were household names, they were only known to
boxing fans. Why can't I delete stuff on this website?If he had beaten another
interesting undefeated champion and one champ represented the |
|6/18/05 08:58:27 PM|angelo|dc||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Mr. Otto: Regarding
Greg's Law, would the reforms now being discussed kept Greg Page from fighting
on the night he was so seriously injured? Thanks for continuing to post here---
the work you're doing will save lives. |
|6/18/05 09:23:10 PM|Angelo|dc||funktron@yahoo.com||||10|Bob: I think it's an
unfair comparison (Holmes knockdowns vs. Lewis' knockouts). First, Lennox Lewis
probably wouldn't have survived either fight(Rahman or McCall) had they been
allowed to continue. I don't think he got up ready to fight the way Holmes did
against Shavers and Snipes. Also, in the comparison, Snipes and McCall are