That is a part of BoxingInsider.com’s ongoing sequence on the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act. Half 1 examined what the invoice means for membership promoters and impartial boxing. Half 2 broke down what drug testing really prices at each stage of the game. Half 3 lined how the invoice turns win tourism into the default path for younger fighters. This piece asks who the invoice really empowers—and whether or not Congress is aware of the reply.
Is the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act about to make the Affiliation of Boxing Commissions the de facto nationwide boxing fee?
Learn the invoice textual content heading for a Home flooring vote subsequent week and it’s exhausting to achieve every other conclusion. The ABC—a nonprofit commerce group with no regulatory energy, no enforcement mechanism, and no authorized authority over any state athletic fee—is called all through the laws because the physique that can certify ringside physicians for all skilled boxing in America, certify judges and referees for all skilled boxing in America, obtain drug check outcomes, impose penalties on fighters, consider state commissions, and function the gatekeeper for prohibited substance requirements nationwide.
And on March 19, we obtained a preview of what that appears like in apply.
The UFC introduced that the ABC will function “regulatory advisors” for UFC Freedom 250, the struggle card scheduled for the White Home South Garden on June 14. Based on reporting by Extreme MMA, the UFC’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner had a preliminary cellphone name with DC Fight Sports activities Fee Chairman Andrew Huff again in November 2025 in regards to the occasion however couldn’t verify the fee’s involvement. By February 2026, the UFC notified fee workers it will be continuing with out them, citing using federal land. Huff requested instantly whether or not the fights can be unsanctioned and due to this fact unofficial. He didn’t obtain a response. So as an alternative of working with the fee that has authorized jurisdiction, the UFC employed the ABC to fill the function.
The UFC’s press launch calls the ABC “the unified regulatory physique that oversees and helps the security, integrity, and standardization {of professional} boxing and MMA occasions in the USA.” That description is flawed. The ABC can’t droop a fighter, revoke a license, or sanction a struggle.
And the timeline makes it worse. On March 9, Extreme MMA’s Theo Lander requested ABC President Timothy Shipman instantly: had the ABC been consulted about oversight for the White Home occasion, and did it have a place on the precedent being set? Shipman’s written response: “The Affiliation of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports activities (ABC) doesn’t have a place concerning this occasion and has no info to supply in response to your proposed questions.” He directed all inquiries to UFC Vice President of Communications Chris Bellitti. On March 19, 2026—ten days later—Shipman’s title seems on the UFC press launch saying the ABC because the occasion’s regulatory advisor, declaring that “all bouts on this card are formally licensed and sanctioned contests.”
After the UFC’s announcement, Chairman Huff responded: “The ABC is just not a sanctioning physique and has no authority within the District of Columbia. Whereas I’m relieved to study that a further group will keep some kind of oversight of the UFC White Home occasion, I’m disillusioned that the ABC, which represents Commissions throughout the USA, together with within the District of Columbia, has chosen to disregard our Fee’s legal guidelines and authority. It units a harmful precedent for all commissions and the business as a complete.”
To be truthful, there’s precedent for fight sports activities exterior state fee jurisdiction. Occasions on tribal land—like Tachi Palace in California—have operated this manner for years. The UFC has self-regulated in overseas international locations the place no native fee exists. Mohegan Solar, Foxwoods, and the state of Connecticut all function impartial commissions in the identical state. Tribal commissions regulate fights each week in America. None of them name the ABC to do it.
And right here’s the opposite factor: the UFC may have simply self-regulated. They do it each time they maintain an occasion in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, or every other jurisdiction with out an athletic fee. They convey their very own officers, their very own docs, their very own compliance infrastructure. They don’t name the ABC for these occasions. Their inside operation is larger and extra skilled than most state commissions—actually greater than something the states of Oklahoma or Nebraska convey to the desk. So what does the ABC really add to the White Home occasion that the UFC doesn’t have already got? Not higher officers. Not higher docs. No more expertise. The one factor the ABC brings is the phrase “impartial” on the press launch—and a trial run for the function Congress is about to provide them completely.
That’s what makes this completely different. The difficulty isn’t federal land. The difficulty is who the UFC selected and after they selected them. A commerce group that endorsed the invoice the UFC is lobbying Congress to go, tapped as “regulatory advisor” the identical week that invoice is heading for a flooring vote. That’s not impartial oversight. It’s a gown rehearsal.
What Is the ABC?
The Affiliation of Boxing Commissions is a voluntary membership group the place state, provincial, and tribal commissions share info and coordinate requirements. It can’t droop a fighter, revoke a license, or cease a struggle. That’s a wonderfully tremendous factor for a commerce group to be. The issue is that the Revival Act treats it like one thing else fully.
What the Invoice Provides Them
The suspension model of H.R. 4624 dated March 17, 2026 references the ABC repeatedly and delegates it authority that goes far past what a commerce group ought to maintain. And it’s not restricted to UBO occasions. A number of of those provisions apply to all skilled boxing in America:
Doctor Certification — All Boxing. Part 5(a)(3), as rewritten by this invoice, requires that each ringside doctor at each skilled boxing match in America—not simply UBO occasions—maintain a certification “obtained by way of a certification program administered by the Affiliation of Boxing Commissions in partnership with the Affiliation of Ringside Physicians.” This takes impact two years after enactment. A commerce group will management who’s allowed to function a ringside physician at your native membership present.
Decide and Referee Certification — All Boxing. Part 16 is totally rewritten. Judges and referees for any skilled boxing match in America have to be licensed by the state fee or by the Affiliation of Boxing Commissions. A commerce group can now credential officers for each struggle within the nation, working as a parallel certification physique alongside state authorities.
Drug Check Notifications — UBO Occasions. Optimistic drug check outcomes from UBO occasions have to be reported to the state boxing fee or to the Affiliation of Boxing Commissions. A commerce group receives the identical drug check outcomes as a state regulator.
Drug Check Penalty Authority — UBO Occasions. The invoice authorizes the ABC to impose penalties on boxers for optimistic check outcomes. A commerce group with no authorized enforcement energy can penalize skilled athletes beneath federal legislation.
UBO Registration. When a UBO claims standing, it should submit its registration info to the Federal Commerce Fee and to the Affiliation of Boxing Commissions. A commerce group receives the identical submitting as a federal company.
State Fee Report Playing cards. Part 7(c)(3)(C) states—within the precise invoice textual content—that the ABC ought to publish “an annual report card of boxing fee conformance with such mannequin codes and finest practices.” That may be a commerce group grading sovereign state authorities companies. It’s the corridor monitor provision, written into federal legislation, and it creates an apparent avenue for political favoritism: commissions that play ball get good grades, commissions that don’t get flagged.
Drug Testing Cascade — All Boxing. Part 4(b) requires drug testing at each title bout and at random for all different matches. The screening customary cascades: state fee’s prohibited listing first, then the ABC’s prohibited listing, then the WADA listing because the default. Most states don’t keep a complete prohibited substance listing. The ABC’s listing turns into the gatekeeper for what will get examined at each boxing occasion within the nation.
Who Runs It
Right here is the present ABC govt committee as of November 2025:
President: Timothy Shipman — Florida
1st Vice President: Scott Bowler — Utah
2nd Vice President: Brian Dunn — Nebraska
Secretary: Diana Fletcher — Oklahoma
Treasurer: Heather Turner — Oklahoma
Previous President: Michael Mazzulli — Mohegan Tribe (Connecticut)
Florida. Utah. Nebraska. Oklahoma. Oklahoma. A tribal fee at a Connecticut on line casino.
Not a single particular person from New York. Not New Jersey. Not Nevada. Not California. The 4 states that regulate the overwhelming majority of great skilled boxing in America haven’t any illustration within the ABC’s management. The commerce group that Congress is about handy federal authority to is run fully by commissions from states the place boxing is a secondary exercise at finest.
And Florida’s presence on the high deserves specific scrutiny. Browse the Florida Athletic Fee’s occasion outcomes web page and also you’ll discover bare-knuckle combating, Karate Fight, BYB Excessive, Soiled Boxing Championship, Creator Conflict influencer boxing, and what can solely be described as circus fights—occasions that New York, New Jersey, and Nevada would by no means sanction. And the person working that fee is now president of the group Congress is about to empower beneath federal legislation.
The Endorsement Chain
Comply with the connections:
Michael Mazzulli, as ABC president, endorsed the invoice on behalf of the group: “The Affiliation of Boxing Commissions Board of Administrators is in unanimous assist of the brand new Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act.”
Andy Foster, the California State Athletic Fee govt officer, led the 6–0 CSAC vote supporting the invoice in October 2025. Foster beforehand nominated Mazzulli for the ABC presidency. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) later raised questions within the committee report about communications between Foster and Zuffa or its associates. These questions stay unanswered.
In March 2026—the identical month the invoice is heading for a flooring vote—Mazzulli was appointed to the advisory board of M2MMA Inc., a Dubai-based fight sports activities know-how firm traded on the OTC markets (ticker: MMAZ). The corporate’s press launch cited his ABC tenure as a credential.
The individuals who endorsed this invoice are the identical individuals who acquire probably the most institutional energy from it.
Their Personal Normal Counsel Disagrees
The ABC’s personal normal counsel is Pat English—one of many unique drafters of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000. English submitted a proper letter to Congress calling the Revival Act a “betrayal of the present act and of what McCain and those that labored with him have been attempting to perform.” He wrote that the invoice “is designed for a single goal—to permit the brand new Zuffa boxing entity to keep away from restrictions designed to guard boxers.”
The group’s board endorsed the invoice. The group’s normal counsel—the person who helped write the legislation this invoice amends—calls it a betrayal. Reporting by The MMA Draw has documented that opposition contained in the ABC is critical however lacks a megaphone. A number of commissioners have advised business contacts they will’t communicate freely.
Zach Arnold at The MMA Draw—who has tracked the revised invoice textual content line by line—reaches the identical conclusion: the Ali Revival Act simply turned a commerce group right into a quasi-governmental entity in a single day.
Why This Issues for the Ground Vote
Each provision detailed above delegates federal authority to a personal nonprofit commerce group—one with no regulatory energy, no enforcement mechanism, no accountability to voters, and an inside cut up so deep that its personal normal counsel calls the invoice a betrayal.
If Congress desires to strengthen boxing oversight, strengthen the state commissions. They’ve the regulatory authority, the medical infrastructure, the institutional data, and the authorized accountability. Delegating that work to a commerce group is just not oversight. It’s a workaround.
Coming subsequent: Authorities in Boxing — what it seems like when it really works, and what this invoice will get flawed about who ought to be working the game.
Larry Goldberg is the founding father of Boxing Insider Promotions and proprietor of BoxingInsider.com. BoxingInsider.com is an impartial boxing information platform and the house of Boxing Insider Promotions, which levels skilled boxing occasions in Atlantic Metropolis and New York Metropolis. We aren’t masking this laws from the skin. We’re one of many promoters it’s going to instantly have an effect on.
Learn the total sequence:
Half 2: Drug Testing in Boxing: What It Really Prices
Half 3: The Muhammad Ali Revival Act Simply Made Win Tourism the Enterprise Mannequin for Impartial Boxing
Half 4: The Muhammad Ali Revival Act Turns the ABC Into America’s De Facto Nationwide Boxing Fee
Half 5: Boxing Wants Reform. This New Ali Act Revival Invoice Wanted a Debate.
