California Law Doesn’t Require AIDS Test

Under California law, even if the state athletic commission suspected a boxer had AIDS, there is nothing it could do to prevent him from fighting in the state, according to Richard DeCuir, the commission’s executive director.

But Paul Banke’s public acknowledgment two years after his last bout that he has AIDS is certain to rekindle the debate.

DeCuir and the commission have been pushing unsuccessfully for the Assembly to pass a law requiring fighters seeking California licenses to provide proof that they have recently passed AIDS and hepatitis tests. The commission been asking for the law exactly because it feared situations like Banke’s, DeCuir says.

“Do I worry? You bet I worry,” said DeCuir, who plans to bring up testing for infectious diseases in a Department of Consumer Affairs meeting Wednesday. “I don’t think there’s any one of us who has sat on the ring apron that hasn’t had our clothes or some part of our body sprayed [with blood].”

In 1993, Assemblywoman Jackie Speier of San Francisco introduced a bill with the commission’s backing but it died when opponents raised privacy issues.

“Existing law prevents the commission from testing, and even if we did test, existing law would prevent us from telling anybody or doing anything about it,” said DeCuir. “So if you were a boxer and we knew you were positive, we could not inform anybody about you being positive. And I don’t believe we could suspend you.”

For years, Nevada has required boxers to show negative tests results before getting licenses. Before his last Nevada fight, in March 1992, Banke presented proof that he had tested negative for AIDS, according to Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Robert Karns, the California commission’s chief ringside physician and medical adviser, said he does not believe in mandatory testing for boxing.

“This disease has been around since 1979, and though there has been talk about [infection through sports contact], there has not been a single reported case in 16 years. The chances are just infinitesimally small.”