Boxing boss says fund for medical testing needed

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005 | 8:20 a.m.

Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Marc Ratner believes money from boxing promoters and ticket sales should be used to help pay for more medical testing and research on behalf of boxers.

Ratner made his remarks in an interview on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" that will air at 5:30 p.m. today on Las Vegas ONE and will be repeated throughout the evening.

"This has been a horrible, tough year for us and for me personally to lose two boxers," Ratner told Ralston. "It's an inherently dangerous sport, but we have to find something, maybe some common thread, to make it better."

In addition to the deaths this year of boxers Leavander Johnson and Martin Sanchez following Las Vegas bouts, two other boxers who fought here in May had their Nevada boxing licenses permanently suspended because they suffered brain injuries.

Ratner said he supports more thorough medical research into boxing injuries.

"I think there is room in the sport to take money from the pay-per-view and from the promoters," he said. "We do need more testing, and we need to be able to have the fighters not have to pay for it. I think that's a legitimate request."

When asked if he would support a fund to help pay for more magnetic resonance imaging brain scans for boxers before and after fights, Ratner said:

"I would like to see something out of every ticket that we could have a big fund where the state could pay for these MRIs. I think that's a doable goal, and that would be one of my suggestions to the medical advisory panel."

The five-member Advisory Committee on Boxer Health and Safety, formed by the commission after Johnson's death last month, will meet for the first time Thursday in Las Vegas.

Although no neurologist sits on the committee -- it is made up of three former state commissioners, an assemblyman and a cardiologist -- Ratner defended the makeup of the panel and expects it to receive input from neurologists, trainers and boxers.

Ratner told Ralston that more also needs to be done to monitor sparring activities that boxers engage in to train for fights.

"To me, one of the biggest problems I can't get my hands on is what happens in training, what happens in sparring," Ratner said. "I try to make spot checks, but nobody wants to tell me, 'Hey, did you hear so and so got knocked out last week before his last fight.' That's what we've got to find out."

Ratner said he did not believe headgear or longer rest between rounds of a fight would do much to better protect boxers. But he said the reluctance of trainers to "throw in the towel" is a problem.

"I think the trainers are a little too brave for some of their fighters," Ratner said. "Maybe we have to have the referees more proactive. Maybe the (ring) doctors have to be more proactive. Maybe I do as executive director, to say that's enough and go over to the corner."

Steve Kanigher can be reached at 259-4075 or at steve@lasvegassun.com.