TKO’s biggest move in boxing yet is continuing to face adversity.
The California State Athletic Commission postponed its motion to support the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act the bill introduced in July by two members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Brian Jack, R-Ga., and Sharice Davids, D-Kan., following a deluge of criticism at its meeting on Monday afternoon.
A two-person subcommittee will review the bill and opinions surrounding it more in-depth and provide feedback to the commission at its December meeting, CSAC officials announced.
The controversial act is backed by TKO Boxing, which is the promotional group spearheaded by UFC CEO Dana White, Saudi Arabian boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, and WWE president Nick Khan. TKO is the primary promoter of Saturday’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford undisputed super middleweight title fight from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The fast-moving piece of federal legislation would allow for TKO to create Unified Boxing Organizations. Under the proposed bill, UBOs would be allowed to run rankings systems, award UBO titles and organize events. In essence, promoters would be able to promote fights for titles and rankings, which they also control much like how the UFC is run.
At the meeting, 12 people were given two minutes to voice their opinion about the act. All 12 speakers, including former MMA fighters, journalists, managers and lawyers, voiced criticism of the act.
At one point, CSAC executive director, Andy Foster, who is an advocate of the bill, asked if the commission could stop listening to comments and move straight to its vote, presumably because of how similarly one-sided the comments were against the act.
Former UFC flyweight Daniel Martinez also joined the call to voice his experience of fighting under TKO.
Martinez said he was training full-time during those periods of inactivity but wasn’t receiving any income. He urged the commission to consider how much fighters would be left with after retiring from an arduously taxing career, stating that many former UFC fighters, including himself, have been forced to find new careers since leaving the MMA leader.
One surprising advocate of the bill is Tom Brown of TGB Promotions, which promotes the events run by Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. Brown wasn’t present at the meeting, but his support in a letter was divulged by Foster.