On Tuesday at its monthly meeting, the California State Athletic Commission held open comment on the Muhammad Ali Boxing Revival Act. The comments were strongly against supporting the bi-partisan bill. As a result, the commission held off support for the bill.
The bill was introduced into Congress by Georgia Republican Brian Jack and co-sponsor Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids this past July. The bill seeks to add legislation which would allow for the creation of Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs) which would run parallel to existing promoters and commissions/regulators. UBOs would have the ability to promote and regulate fights on their own without the necessity to have promoters and commissions. Presumably, this would allow for the promoter to produce its own rankings which would allow the ease of the UBO to make its own fights. Another component which is highlighted by proponents is the seeming raise in pay for fighters under contract with UBOs which would allow mandatory pay per each round a boxer participates – $150.00 It also provides for health insurance for the athlete.
But the main takeaway that most that provided comments to is the belief that this is a way for TKO to create a UFC for boxing. As ex-fighters and even current fighter Kajan Johnson notes that this would be a bad thing. Former fighters Mac Danzig and Brock Jardine spoke out against the Revival Act. “This will harm the fighters guaranteed,” said Johnson who is currently a named plaintiff in one of the three active Zuffa antitrust lawsuits. Danzig asked, “Whether or not the fighters [who sign with a UBO] are going to be able to fight for multiple titles?” Danzig, as most who spoke out against the Act, knew the answer would be no. All fear that the Revival Act would limit fighter opportunity in committing them to long-term, low-pay contracts.
As a result of the public comments, the CSAC decided to create a subcommittee to investigate the bill ahead of a potential vote in December.
CSAC decided to not recommend support (after trying to do so before the public comment phase)
— Grey Johnson (@BoxrecGrey) September 8, 2025
After the comments, they decided to create a subcommittee to investigate the bill more before making a decision which would likely be in December. https://t.co/vN4uMuc65n
Payout Perspective:
Good news. Bad news. Good news is that CSAC listened to the public’s opinion on this piece of legislation which essentially is drawn up for Zuffa Boxing. The bad news is that the commission likely will not listen to the public’s outcry over it. Even if the commission opposed the proposed law, how would it really stop the passage if there are not more commissions pushing against it? MPO will continue to follow.
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