The US Senate has voted in favor of the creation of a federal boxing commission. As I understand it, this would essentially wipe out the influence of entities like the WBA, WBO, and all the rest of the boxing alphabet soup (which has given us nonsense like 3 different heavyweight “champions”). This understanding is advanced by a Ringtalk.com article that states that the commission would be “deathblow to sanctioning bodies like the WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO, etc”.

The commission, to be called the USBC (United States Boxing Commission), would give us unified rules on fights and licensing of fighters, standards for judges and referees (something the sport badly needs), standards for standby medical help, and perhaps most important, a single, consistant ranking system of boxers. No more having 20 different rankings of fighters.

This bill, sponsored by Senator John McCain, is a direct attack at the corruption in the sport of boxing and the power structures that facilitate it. It would not only lead to a cleaner sport, but having a single set of actual rankings and titles will make the sport infinitely more fan friendly.

The Senate passed the bill with a voice vote, and now the bill needs to be approved by the House of Representatives. As a boxing fan, my fingers are crossed.