Troubled Boxing Panel Nears Expiration Date

The state Athletic Commission, which oversees boxing and increasingly popular extreme fighting bouts, will cease to exist at midnight on Friday, prompting concern among promoters, fighters, boxing fans and television industry executives about the future of the perennially troubled sport in California.

The seven-member commission, which has struggled for years to safeguard the interests of fighters and fans, will fall victim to an ongoing review of state commissions and boards that might have outlived their usefulness. Yet, even as Sacramento allows the troubled commission to close its doors this week, legislation to create a new commission is gathering steam.

That legislative push, spearheaded by Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland), passed its first hurdle last week when an Assembly committee unanimously approved S.B. 247, which includes tougher regulations for the boxing industry. Perata hopes to have a bill on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk by the end of August that calls for a new athletic commission to be established Jan. 1. The current commission was created in 1924 to counter a culture of corruption and criminal behavior in an era when boxers and their fans had little protection from shady elements. The commission, whose members are appointed by the governor and legislators, issues and renews licenses held by boxers and promoters, regulates fights and oversees the mushrooming sport of modified martial arts. In recent years it has described its mission as making California the “model state for the welfare of boxers.”

But state legislators have complained that some commissioners seemed more interested in using their appointments to wrangle free ringside seats than regulating the sport.

The commission on occasion has been unable to hold meetings because it couldn’t attract a quorum. The commission has also struggled with an antiquated accounting system -- that tracks revenue and other data generated by bouts -- yet rebuffed suggestions that the error-prone manual system be replaced with a computerized program.

The commission also has been hamstrung by a shortage of staffers and, for a time, the absence of an executive director. Last summer, the state auditor faulted the commission for failing to accurately track a pension program created to benefit retired boxers.

Still, some industry observers say the current boxing commission’s reputation in Sacramento began to rise in the past year after the appointment of some new commissioners and the arrival of a new chief executive, Armando Garcia, who took over day-to-day operations. Garcia, one observer said, “is a guy who actually has been showing up to do business, he’s showing that it’s possible for the commission to have competent managers.”

Last year the commission won a 12-month reprieve in Sacramento -- time that elected officials hoped the commission would use to clean up its act. But frustrated lawmakers ended up letting the board die June 30.

Robert Fellmeth, a former commission chairman appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, testified during a June 20 legislative hearing that killing off the commission was unfortunate but necessary.

“What the legislature has done here is akin to how we handle one of our children who is consistently misbehaving,” Fellmeth said during an Assembly committee hearing on S.B. 247. “It seems the commission needed this six-month timeout to help it understand that the administration and the legislature were serious about the need for reforms,” Perata said.

During the hearings, legislators heard from boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard and a Hollywood contingent from “The Contender,” a reality-based television series that showcases boxers.

No one spoke against S.B. 247, which would, among other things, establish minimum credentials for commission appointees.

Though the commission will cease to exist, its handful of office and field staffers will continue to regulate boxing matches and modified martial arts bouts. As of Saturday, the boxing operation and its $1-million annual budget will report to Charlene Zettel, director of the state Department of Consumer Affairs.

But many in the boxing industry worry that the interim supervision will make matters worse in a sport that already has significant credibility issues. A report prepared by a legislative analyst in Sacramento cautioned that consumer affairs personnel “will not be subject to public meetings, potentially leaving the regulated industry without an official, public avenue to participate.”

Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this report.