Any fighter wishing to apply for help from the fund should send an email to: [email protected]
The Association of Boxing Commissions is responsible for passing minimum standards for the sports, maintaining suspensions, and recognizing sanctioning bodies. The ABC also abides by its internal Bylaws, which mandate the creation of a Retired Fighter Charity. The charity was created formally in 2017 and gifted three recipients at the Banquet Dinner which concluded the 2017 annual Conference.
At this year’s Conference a Casino Night Fund Raiser will be held Monday night, July 30, 2018 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida. Plans have been made by the Retired Fighter Fund’s first Board of Directors to gift $10,000 or more this year to eligible fighters who have given their all to the combative sports.
One such recipient will be Daniel Franco, 26, of Rancho Cucamonga, California who suffered a near-fatal brain injury in a boxing match on June 10, 2017.
Miraculously, Daniel has made a nearly full recovery from his injury and subsequent complications which forced him to retire as a professional fighter and look for new ways to earn income in order to pay his substantial medical bills. He currently assists training fighters at his father’s gym, Warzone Boxing Club, and is enrolled part time at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California.
The Retired Fighter Fund’s 2018 MMA recipient will be announced shortly.
The Retired Fighter Fund’s Board of Directors include Chair Dan Gustafson, regulator for the Oneida Tribe, Steven Weisfeld, renown boxing judge and instructor from NJ, John English, affiliated with the New Hampshire Commission, “Big” John McCarthy, MMA pioneer, Joe Walsh, Director of Iowa Athletic Commission and Michael Mazzulli, President & Lydia Robertson, Treasurer for the ABC.
The Combative Sports promoted around the world most often include boxing and mixed martial arts. A majority of Regulators and sports fans believe that ahead of football, basketball, gymnastics and ice hockey, or any other sport, the combative sports place the greatest demand on the athlete’s speed, flexibility, endurance, strength, power and agility. Superb conditioning is required for the athlete to perform at his/her peak, and even then, tragedies occur.
The dangers of the sports are inherently present, and although the Association of Boxing Commissions continues its examination of best and safest practices, keeps its members up to date on medical advances and is involved in overseeing the rules for the sports, Mazzulli believes the Retired Fighter Charity is one of the most important acts by the ABC, giving back to the very people who gave everything they had, “Fighters sometime compete beyond the point they should, sometimes freak accidents happen, and other times, the safest practices are not followed. All can result in earth-shattering hardships for the fighter retiring from the ring or cage. I believe this gifting should have started years ago. The ABC should have always given back to these athletes, so it is a real honor to announce the sizeable gifts that will be given in Orlando this summer.”
Mazzulli stated that 700 room nights have been booked for the 30th Annual Conference and will be the largest meeting the ABC has ever held. ABC Officials Training (the gold standard in the industry) will be offered on Saturday and Sunday, July 28 & 29. Officials taking and passing this recognized course will have their names posted on the official ABC website. The full session for Regulators and interested parties begins Monday morning at 8am with an intensive three-day Agenda. Six doctors are scheduled to speak, along with experts from across all fields.
Again, any fighter wishing to apply for help from the fund should send an email to: [email protected]