State commission wants role in martial arts events

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Hawai'i State Boxing Commission plans to ask the legislature to consider expanding its regulatory powers to include so-called mixed martial arts contests.

"The hope is that we will initiate before the next legislative session a request for the legislature to approve a study as to whether or not we should regulate these (other) contests," commission chairman Willes Lee said yesterday.

With the popularity of ultimate fighting, shooto, K-1 and other forms combining martial arts disciplines, the commission is seeking to define the scope of its authority. The request to the legislature would be the first step in a process that, if approved, could take two years or more.

Regulation of mixed martial arts events is an issue the commission talked about on and off for several years before a K-1 promoter approached it last month about a possible combination boxing/K-1 show featuring Mike Tyson. The promoter hasn't been back, no contracts have been filed and some on the commission have come to doubt whether such a fight will ever come before it. But the mixed martial arts events question remains.

Yesterday, vice chairman Herbert Minn said, "I'm concerned that as soon as they start using their fists, they should come under the commission (regulation)."

The commission's rules define boxing as, "a contest in which the act of attack and defense is practiced with gloved fists by two contestants."

In 1975 the commission accepted, "with reservations," an attorney general's opinion restricting it to purely boxing contests.

The commission had sought jurisdiction over mixed martial art contests, citing a 1948 ruling by the then-territorial attorney general defining pugilistic encounter as "any voluntary fight by blows by means of fists or otherwise whether with or without gloves between two or more men."

Nevada is one of a handful of states where boxing commissions have been given authority over mixed martial arts events in recent years, according to Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission. Ratner said legislation is pending in several other jurisdictions.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.