ALERT: New York State Athletic Commission Is Open To Sanctioning A Boxing Card, FYI

This week, I had a thought. With public school kids from pre-k on up going back to school, I got curious:

What about boxing?

My fifth grader went in Wednesday and my eighth grader went in to school Thursday and Friday. They were masked up, did distancing, and overall were respectful but not paranoid about coronavirus.

In NY, an uptick in some neighborhoods of positive tests had people feeling more worried two weeks ago, and now more so, what with the spread flurry among those high level DC pols.

According to “Gothamist:” ‘These ZIP codes are showing an average rate of positive tests at 5.2%, but the remaining parts of New York state has a 1.01% rate. Altogether, the state is testing at 1.29% positivity.'

The delicate dance, of how much to allow, what areas to open up, continues. Right now, restaurants can allow patrons inside, but capacity is set to 25% of maximum.

So, will we soon see someone book fights in NY? I mean, if they are allowed to do so…

To ascertain where we are at, I messaged the New York State Athletic Commission and asked, straight up, could a promoter place a boxing card at some venue or another, if they wanted to?

I heard back. The Commission furnished this response:

“The New York State Athletic Commission continues to follow New York State’s public health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, professional sports including a live professional boxing event can take place in New York State, so long as necessary precautions are taken and all New York State guidelines are followed to appropriately mitigate risks in light of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. A promoter seeking to hold a live professional boxing show in New York State must follow the published NY Forward guidance authorizing professional sports events with no in-person spectators (see Guidelines), and applicable Commission rules, and the location of the professional event must be in a region that is in Phase 4 of NYS Reopening. The Commission encourages any licensed promoter interested in holding a live event in New York State in accordance with the State’s guidelines to contact the Commission.”

So, there you go.

Gentlemen, ladies, start your engines of promotional progress. The state is open for boxing business.