California State Athletic Commissioner appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday to discuss the reasons why the Muhammad Ali Boxing Revival Act will be good for the support of boxing. Notably, Foster wanted to come on Helwani’s show to “clear the air” about the act. If this doesn’t sound like a guy that’s carrying water for TKO, I do not know what does.
Foster wanted to dismiss the “misinformation” and “negativity” toward the proposed law. Foster claimed that the biggest thing it address is the minimum purse requirements for 4-6 and 8 round fighters. These fighters are the ones starting out and do not get paid as much as known prizefighters.
It looked like Foster was reading from a one-sheet and Helwani allowed him to get his talking points out. Based on the timing, it would seem that Foster was asked (or told) to respond to the criticism by fighters about the changes made to the Ali Act.
Foster advocated for the TKO-sponsored boxing league which would allow for insurance and mandatory pay. One might suggest that he advocated for the UFC-model and apply it for boxing.
Foster was adamant that it is a myth that boxers are getting paid more than MMA fighters. He noted that the current “four belt system” were still an option but seemed to be lobbying for the TKO-sponsored Zuffa Boxing. Foster stated that Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs) that are proposed in the law would eliminate the A-side, B-side dynamics in boxing.
Foster stressed that boxing recently lost 4 network deals and the sport relies on these contracts to survive. He also stated that it’s hard to make unification fights and sanctioning fees are too high (in Foster’s opinion).
He noted that a championship boxer’s loss would see a significant decrease in pay. Whereas, according to Foster, losing a fight in the UFC would not see such a significant drop.
Helwani pushed him on why the vote on support of the Muhammad Ali Act Boxing Revival Act was moved up to October. In September, CSAC noted that they’d set up a subcommittee to do a fact-finding mission on the legislation and he stated that it was moved up because the subcommittee was ready. This is almost unheard that a subcommittee is ahead of schedule unless there was some sort of push to do so.
Notably, Helwani pushed Foster about the implications of a UBO would have which could prevent “superfights” aka cross-promotions (e.g., Jon Jones v. Francis Ngannou).
Foster pressed the benefits of how the minimum payments would help boxers on the club circuit and those starting out. He did not seem to have the answer for what occurs when a promotion owns a belt. Specifically, Helwani addressed Cris Cyborg’s tweet. She tweeted in part, “Promoters owning championship belts and being able to leverage them to force fighters into long term contracts below market value is not in the fighters (sic) best interest.”
Originally posted on Patreon.
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