This Is Not A Press Release! Golden Boy Promotions & The NYSAC

The New York State Athletic Commission lifted the suspension it imposed on Golden Boy Promotions last week and instead levied a $10,000 fine against GBP for failure to provide paperwork in a timely manner. This is a pretty quick reversal of fortune in a sport where it takes a year or so for its two best fighters to negotiate a match worth tens of millions of dollars.

Without shame—something completely lacking in 85% of media members—boxing websites across the farthest reaches of cyberspace printed in its entirety a smug Golden Boy press release exonerating itself. Outlets that never reported the suspension in the first place (instead posting a GBP preemptive strike statement) had no problem printing only stories written by Golden Boy Promotions about the entire affair. This is something that ought to be accompanied by a laugh track, but be careful; if you giggle, it might be termed “actionable.”

The Golden Boy pasquinade, handbill, pamphlet—take your pick—insists, in a paragraph notable for a missing referent, “Golden Boy has acknowledged an error (arising from the absence of key personnel for a short period of time) with respect solely to its timely production, and has therefore paid a $10,000 fine to the Commission upon the Commission’s finding that only New York laws, rather than the Ali Act, had been violated.”

Unfortunately, Lem Satterfield of Fanhouse quoted Melvina Lathan, Chairwoman of the NYSAC, directly regarding violation of the Muhammad Ali Act: “They are suspended 90 days from the time that they’ve given us what we’re requesting. The clock doesn’t start until we get the necessary documents,” said Lathan, who is in her second year as commission chairwoman and dealing with Golden Boy for the first time. “They know what it is. And any promoter that promotes fights knows what it is according to the Muhammad Ali Act and our unconsolidated laws.” (Emphasis added.) So the NYSAC chairperson makes it absolutely clear that Golden Boy Promotions violated the Muhammad Ali Act. Did she misspeak? Is Richard Schaefer, on a litigation binge, going to sue Lathan as well? Satterfield? The Cruelest Sport (with its total assets of $0.00)?

Since no one ever wants to try to figure these things out in the “journalistic” world, where superior personalities and intellects like David Mayo and Lyle Fitzsimmons routinely bash bloggers, maybe we can try to parse this ourselves. This will be boring, of course, but it will be no worse than reading press releases sent out by promoters in their own defense.

Here is the most important question that needs answering: Did Golden Boy Promotions, in fact, violate the Muhammad Ali Act? One section of the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 catches the eye:

§ 6307e. Required disclosures for promoters

(a) Disclosures to the boxing commissions

A promoter shall not be entitled to receive any compensation directly or indirectly in connection with a boxing match until it provides to the boxing commission responsible for regulating the match in a State a statement of—

(1) a copy of any agreement in writing to which the promoter is a party with any boxer participating in the match;

(2) a statement made under penalty of perjury that there are no other agreements, written or oral, between the promoter and the boxer with respect to that match; and

(3)

(A) all fees, charges, and expenses that will be assessed by or through the promoter on the boxer pertaining to the event, including any portion of the boxer’s purse that the promoter will receive, and training expenses;

So, since Golden Boy did not hand in the proper paperwork, despite being requested to do so on at least three occasions over the course of nearly two months, does that mean they violated any of the above? Read closely now. Depending on a few specifics, ones that are not forthcoming from anyone involved, naturally, the answer is the same one boxing nearly always hands out no matter what the situation: maybe. Despite the GBP statement, the facts are no clearer now than they were a week ago.

One of the funniest aspects of the Golden Boy “Our Good Name Is Cleared” press release is how websites did not think twice about how the statement savaged George Kimball. In the past The Cruelest Sport has been contacted directly by websites outraged at criticism levied at them by TCS, but these same Snausage-eaters have no problem printing a press release from a promoter condemning a BWAA member by name. Misery may acquaint men with strange bedfellows, but the marriage between the boxing media and certain promoters is a match made in hell.

As for Kimball, when he speculated about the $525,000 question, he may have overstepped the line, but when he said that Golden Boy Promotions violated the Muhammad Ali Act, he was not alone, since Lathan herself is quoted by Lem Satterfield mentioning the Muhammad Ali Act. A minor violation, no doubt, and one small enough to make sure GBP was “exonerated” one day before the Barclays Center publicly announced its exclusive deal with Golden Boy Promotions….in Brooklyn….New York.

If Kimball indeed has an axe to grind with Golden Boy Promotions, and at times it appears that he does, he certainly can set aside an overactive imagination. After all, Golden Boy Promotions does more than enough in the semi-real world of boxing to justify unhealthy skepticism. No embellishment is needed.

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