Columnist Dean Juipe: NSAC sticks to its guns on new tests

Dean Juipe

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 9:12 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

It was a decision that may not have appeased everyone, yet it had an element of compromise.

Actually, it was more than fair.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission, at its meeting Thursday, voted to implement mandatory MRI and MRA testing for all boxers and mixed-martial arts combatants who accept fights in the state. The measure takes effect next week, inconvenience and expense be damned.

But there is a "grandfather clause" of sorts: Anyone currently licensed by the NSAC -- which is said to be approximately 360 fighters -- will be allowed to accept a maximum of one fight between now and the end of the year without having to take the tests. After Jan. 1, everyone who fights here will have to have the tests as part of his or her medical portfolio.

The tests cost a minimum of $425, which is an imposition of sorts yet one that is not entirely unreasonable. If a fighter or his manager or his promoter can't afford it, maybe he or she should look for another line of work.

"It behooves us to do the right thing," said Dr. Margaret Goodman of the commission's medical advisory board. "The fighters should be happy to come here because we are trying to protect them.

"To say boxing is inherently dangerous -- that's not good enough anymore."

It was a given that the NSAC was going to pass the measure in some form, in spite of opposition from lower-level promoters who said the costs of the tests would eventually either fall to them or cost them access to fighters.

Gary Shaw, for instance, had already canceled four shows in Laughlin and Jeff Grmoja (of Guilty Boxing) had canceled one that was scheduled for tonight at the Orleans.

"I don't see the urgency. I don't see an immediate need to have to do this tomorrow," Grmoja complained at the NSAC meeting. His suggestion -- to grandfather in anyone already licensed here -- was ultimately accepted but modified with the Jan. 1 proviso.

Great Britain has had mandatory MRI/MRA testing since 1997 and New York adopted it this year. In the latter's case, the state pays for the tests.

That's not going to happen in budget-strapped Nevada, but there appears to be help on the horizon for those who simply can't afford it. A fund established by the UNLV club boxing team might be broadened to cover MRI/MRA testing for pro fighters who come here, and there's a chance of a grant via the University of Utah that could come into play and augment the fund.

Of course if the NSAC could simply keep the money it fines fighters and use that money to fund these new tests, everyone except the greedy legislators in Carson City would be happy. For example, last year the commission fined Fernando Vargas $100,000 for a steroids violation and if it had access to that money it would fund MRI/MRA tests for some 235 of his underfinanced colleagues.

But those concerns have to be secondary to the NSAC, which has only indirect political clout and is required to stay an arm's length from any fundraising endeavor.

"We're regulators," said NSAC member Dr. Flip Homansky, putting the board's role in perspective. "When we adopted mandatory HIV testing we heard the same complaints, but it was still the right thing to do then."

The MRI/MRA issue ultimately fell into the same boat.