House passes Ali Revival Act; bill now headed to Senate - ESPN

The Muhammad Ali Boxing Revival Act is one step closer to becoming law.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Revival Act by a voice vote during its legislative session Tuesday after a half-hour of debate. It now heads to the Senate. Should it pass there, it would then go to President Donald Trump to potentially sign and turn into law.

If the bill becomes law, the Revival Act's biggest shift would be the allowance for the creation of Unified Boxing Organizations, better known as UBOs, as options for boxers in their careers.

Under boxing's current system, the law requires a separation between promoters, who put on the fights, and sanctioning bodies, who handle rankings, titles and matchmaking. The Revival Act would allow UBOs to handle all of those things as a sort of one-stop shop, similar to what the Ultimate Fighting Championship is in MMA. The Revival Act would govern only boxing, not MMA.

Supporters of the bill, including UFC CEO Dana White and his Zuffa Boxing promotional outfit, former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and the Association of Boxing Commissions, praised it as another choice for fighters. They pointed to stronger health care provisions for all fighters, including mandatory physicals and brain and eye testing, one belt per sanctioning body per weight class and a minimum payment of $200 per round to all fighters.

Those supporters stress the addition of UBOs won't replace the structure of professional boxing but will afford a different type of opportunity for fighters to choose what career path works best for them.

«My hope is, by its passage, you're not just going to have one UBO, my hope is that you're going to have a dozen UBOs operating, if not more, in this sport,» Rep. Brian Jack,