ONE of the literally most debated issues now in the country, especially in the Senate, is the law that proposes the creation of the Philippine Boxing Commission (PBC). The main sponsor of the PBC is, of course, eight-time world champion and former congressman, now Senator, Manny Pacquiao.
The main argument of Pacquiao in pushing for the creation of the PBC is, since lives could be lost in boxing and the sport is a big industry and big business, one singular agency must focus on the sport’s supervision, regulation and development, 24/7.
Those who do not look too kindly on the bill consider it an added layer of bureaucracy especially in the light of the efforts of government to streamline its operations and make it more service oriented. Those who oppose the bill are very wary of the huge bureaucracy, especially in the Office of the President. They are proposing that the tasks and functions of the proposed PBC are best performed by an existing office, such as the Games and Amusements Board (GAB), which is empowered to “fully implement and enforce laws and regulations governing the conduct of all professional sports (including boxing and other combat sports or martial arts) and games locally and the activities of the professional athletes, game officials and officiating sports personnel.. The Board formulates, adopts and promulgates rules, regulations, guidelines and policies to govern the conduct of professional sports and the games and activities and responsibilities of professional athletes.”
The main task of those who support the bill is to prove that a new office will do better than what the GAB has done. If one looks at the fight game, one can see the major players in any fight or proposed fight. These are, the fighters, of course. Then we have the matchmaker whose job it is to match fighters who will match fighters who will, inside the ring, come up with interesting fights that will make life for the promoter easier. What is the role of the promoter then? The promoter assumes all the financial risks of a fight that he promotes between two fighters who the matchmaker thinks will attract the crowd, sponsor, television and the general public. The promoter’s job is to make money to pay the fighters fairly and everyone else involved in the promotion.
Besides the fighters, the matchmakers and the promoters, you have the fighters’ managers whose main and only job is to protect their fighter and look after the latter’s long term career. Among all these aspects of a fight, the most important aspect, given the fact that lives are involved in boxing/combat sports, is the medical intervention. An article in the American Journal of Epidemiology (“Professional Fighters Brain Health Study: Rationale Methods”), points out “the most important medical intervention of the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) is the utilization of neurodiagnostic testing. In addition to a detailed neurologic examination prior to obtaining a license to box professionally in New York State, each boxer is required to submit to an electroencephalogram (EEG) and a computerized tomographic (CT) scan. Do we have such requirements?
Obviously, as one can see in the chain of personalities and said personalities’ roles in boxing, the most important, aside from the fighters, managers and matchmakers, is the doctor. And I believe that if the PBC is to be true to its task, it must focus at this chain and see where it needs to intervene, and if such intervention either needs a separate and new body or if simply adding more powers and resources to an existing body can do the job. If the main rationale for the need for such a body is that it involves lives, then obviously, the medical intervention and how it can be carried out by the sport’s governing body is the most important. Do we need a new body to ensure that this intervention takes place?
2 comments
The obvious answer is a big NO.
The Games and Amusement Board (GAB) just need to be provided with more budget and personnel to improve its handling of the sport and business of boxing. There is no need for a new commission to handle boxing exclusively. It will just be an unnecessary cost to the government that needs to reduce the red tapes and bureaucracy. While extremely superior as a boxer, Manny Pacquiao lacked the ability to comprehend what was being pointed out by the other senator. Pacquiao was electorally qualified to run as a senator, but in my opinion, he is academically and intellectually ill-prepared for the duties of a senator. Sadly, it became very obvious, when he tried to ‘debate’ with Senator Franklin Drilon.