Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 1.djvu/357

 PUBLIC LAW 106-210—MAY 26, 2000 114 STAT. 321 Public Law 106-210 106th Congress An Act To reform unfair and anticompetitive practices in the professional boxing industry. May 26, 2000 [H.R. 1832] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. Act. This Act may be cited as the "Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform ^^.Y^^ ^^^^ Act". SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 15 USC 6301 The Congress makes the following findings: (1) Professional boxing differs from other major, interstate professional sports industries in the United States in that it operates without any private sector association, league, or centralized industry organization to establish uniform and appropriate business practices and ethical standards. This has led to repeated occurrences of disreputable and coercive business practices in the boxing industry, to the detriment of professional boxers nationwide. (2) State officials are the proper regulators of professional boxing events, and must protect the welfare of professional boxers and serve the public interest by closely supervising boxing activity in their jurisdiction. State boxing commissions do not currently receive adequate information to determine whether boxers competing in their jurisdiction are being subjected to contract terms and business practices which may violate State regulations, or are onerous and confiscatory. (3) Promoters who engage in illegal, coercive, or unethical business practices can take advantage of the lack of equitable business standards in the sport by holding boxing events in States with weaker regulatory oversight. (4) The sanctioning organizations which have proliferated in the boxing industry have not established credible and objective criteria to rate professional boxers, and operate with virtually no industry or public oversight. Their ratings are susceptible to manipulation, have deprived boxers of fair opportunities for advancement, and have undermined public confidence in the integrity of the sport. (5) Open competition in the professional boxing industry has been significantly interfered with by restrictive and anticompetitive business practices of certain promoters and sanctioning bodies, to the detriment of the athletes and the ticketbuying public. Common practices of promoters and sanctioning organizations represent restraints of interstate trade in the United States.

�