Republicans Against Government Influence on Boxing.

Boxing needs the U.S. government to step in and protect the sport, reformers told Congress on Thursday. A key Republican said he was wary of making bureaucrats act as referees. A stalled bill to create a U.S. Boxing Commission brought a hearing in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, where lawmakers are trying to forge a compromise with a Senate effort championed by Senator John McCain. House lawmakers grappled on Thursday with a host of boxing issues – fighters risking their health, lack of financial support for run-down boxers, the confusing contractual battles involving promoters, TV networks, and big-name boxers.

“The problem that we have is we don’t have any enforcement mechanism,” said Ron Scott Stevens, chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.

Stevens said a commission would safeguard the health of fighters and bring more structure to the often chaotic business of boxing, in part by creating a medical database that would identify problems that could endanger a boxer’s life.

Two sanctioning bodies, the IBF and WBA, oppose a government commission, but a representative said they do support national medical standards.

Joe Barton, the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, questioned whether Washington could fix those issues.

“The federal government simply can’t solve all of society’s problems,” the Texas lawmaker said, adding it may be difficult to get House members to pass McCain’s bill. The bill passed the Senate last year but went nowhere in the House.

“I’m not sure that we have agreement between this body and the other body on exactly what needs to be done,” said Barton.

McCain’s bill would create a three-person commission – appointed by the president – to license boxers, managers, promoters and sanctioning organizations. It would impose uniform health and safety standards, establish a central medical registry, and provide uniform ranking criteria and contractual guidelines.

Rep. Cliff Stearns is trying to build support for a commission by offering a stripped-down version, one that would create the panel but not dictate the standards it would enforce.

“It seems like the structure of this sport is just very unhealthy compared to the structure of other sports,” said Rep. Barbara Cubin.

Dr. Michael Schwartz, who heads the American Association of Professional Ringside Physicians, said there will always be serious risks associated with boxing, even in Las Vegas, New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey, where fighters must undergo a battery of tests, including a brain scan and blood test.

The risks could be lessened, he argued, by making that sort of screening a nationwide requirement to prevent unfit fighters from hopping planes to states with looser standards.

“The boxers need someone to save them from themselves,” Schwartz. said. “The majority of them do not, and that’s the problem.”