McCAIN, ALI AND RJJ FIGHT ON HOPING TO REFORM BOXING

Muhammad Ali upstaged a senator's speech with a right hook. Light heavyweight champ Roy Jones Jr. came out swinging against bad judging, cable television and Don King.

Concerned that two recent boxing reform laws haven't done enough, Senator John McCain introduced a bill Wednesday that would establish what he has long resisted -- a federal body to regulate boxing, headed by a presidential appointed ``boxing czar.''

"The sport still has a lot of problems," the Arizona Republican, a lifelong boxing fan, told a hearing of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. McCain's Professional Boxing Amendments Act of 2002, similar to a bill introduced last year by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., would create a U.S. Boxing Administration within the Labor Department. It would oversee the licensing of boxers, managers, promoters and sanctioning bodies and help set a national standard for a sport whose rules differ from state to state.

McCain said his "personal dislike of government bureaucracies" kept him from making this proposal for years, but the lack of progress seen from the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 and the Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000 has changed his mind. "Professional boxing is the only major sport in the United States that does not have a strong, centralized association or league to establish and enforce uniform rules and practices," McCain said.

The hearing's star witness was Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's disease. The former heavyweight champion was so moved by Reid's testimony that he rose from his seat behind Reid's chair and feigned a right hook to show his support. "Sen. Reid, you didn't see it, but just a moment ago the champ almost took you out," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Ali's testimony was read by his wife, Lonnie. She listed five proposals from her husband, all focused on the need for uniformity and capped by a call for a "national oversight body." "Those of us who love boxing believe that it can and should be saved," Lonnie Ali read. Muhammad Ali spoke just once, after McCain thanked the former champ for lending his name to the reform act two years ago. "Write me a check," Ali said with a chuckle.

McCain, Dorgan, Reid and the witnesses all spoke of the same issues raised in past hearings: the need for independent judging, objective rankings and a pension fund, along with ways to avoid the apparent conflict of interest that occurs when the same person is both regulating and promoting a fight.

Jones, one of the few active boxers who campaigns actively against the current system, railed against recent questionable judges' decisions and said that HBO and Showtime have too much power over who fights whom, when and for how much. "They seem to have a monopoly on the sport," Jones said. "The networks are calling the shots, along with the promoters."

Many boxing fans, including McCain, would like to see Jones fight middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. When McCain asked if it was going happen, Jones said, "Don King wants 30 percent off the top," Jones said. "Is that fair to me? Then he wants me to split 50-50 with Bernard Hopkins."

McCain was incredulous. "It's a sign of the corruption in boxing today," McCain said.

Don King declined an invitation to testify.

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