Title 19 Part 211

et seq.

) and any amendments made thereto.

There shall be no fewer than 30 rounds of contested boxing on any one program, unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission.

All main event contests or exhibitions shall start no later than 10:00 p.m., unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission.

Boxers shall compete for no more than 12 rounds in any contest or exhibition.

Unless special permission otherwise is granted by the commission, boxers under 19 years of age are permitted to box no more than 6 rounds; boxers 19 years of age, 8 rounds; boxers 20 years of age 10 rounds; and for all bouts over 10 rounds, each boxer in such bout shall be at least 21 years of age.

All boxers participating at a boxing program shall report to the designated dressing room of the premises no later than one and one half hours before the scheduled commencement of the first bout, except the contestants in the main bout, who may report at or before one hour before the scheduled commencement of the first bout. All boxers shall remain in their dressing rooms until directed to the ring by the commission representative in charge.

All boxers shall wear bandages on their hands during all contests and exhibitions, in accordance with the following:

Boxing gloves for professionals shall weigh not less than 8 ounces and not more than 10 ounces, shall be professional grade with thumb attached, and must be approved by the commission prior to use in any contest or exhibition. Gloves shall be promoter-supplied and new, unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission.In all boxing contests and exhibitions, the gloves of each boxer shall be put on in the dressing room under the supervision of a commission representative, and the laces of each glove shall be knotted on the back of the wrists and there shall be placed on the wrists of the gloves, over the laces, a strip of one-inch adhesive tape. Gloves must be whole, clean, sanitary, free of debris, and in good condition. Gloves found to be twisted, manipulated, altered, unfit or ill-fitting, shall not be approved and must be replaced by the promoter. A commission representative shall sign the tape to demonstrate approval of the gloving process. The gloves shall be removed after the bout under the supervision of a commission representative.

Before entering the ring, boxers must have a clean appearance, facial hair must be trimmed, and their hair must be trimmed or tied back with soft and non-abrasive materials in such a way as not to interfere with the vision of either boxer or cover any part of the boxer's face. Boxers shall wear no facial cosmetics. The commission, in its discretion, may require a boxer to wash, trim hair, tie-back hair or shave prior to a contest or exhibition to the extent deemed necessary to ensure health, safety and the integrity of the athletic competition.

Each participant shall provide him or herself with the ring costume prescribed or approved by the commission, and for males such costume shall include a foul-proof guard of the boxer's own selection, type to be approved by the commission, adequate as determined by the commission in its discretion to satisfactorily reduce the risks of the boxer being disabled by a low blow or blows received during the contest. Each participant shall provide him or herself with two mouthpieces of a type approved by the commission, and shall wear one of such mouthpieces while participating in a contest or exhibition. No shoes with spikes, cleats, hard soles or hard heels shall be worn in the ring.

The judges shall be stationed at separate sides of the ring as directed by the commission, and the physicians shall be stationed at places designated by the commission.

A bucket with ice, plastic water bottle, water, sponge, and surgical tape shall be available in each boxer's corner at all times during the contest or exhibition. Without specific permission of the commission, the only other material which may be present or used at ringside are vaseline, adrenalin (in a sealed manufacturer's vial, premeasured in a 1/1,000 solution) and anticoagulant (either Avitene, Thrombin, Thrombinplastin or Fibroplastic). Scissors for the removal of gloves and tape may also be in the possession of a boxer’s second while in the boxer’s corner.

Each boxer shall submit to the commission for approval the name of his or her chief second and assistant seconds and no one other than approved seconds shall be permitted in the corner of the boxer.

Each contestant shall have no more than three seconds, each of whom shall be licensed by the commission, and each such second while assisting in the boxer's corner shall wear only such costume approved by the commission. Provided, however, that each contestant in a championship bout may have no more than four licensed seconds. Only one second may be inside the ring ropes between rounds.

During the progress of any round, seconds shall remain seated and shall not engage in disruptive behavior. No second shall enter the ring between rounds and assist a boxer back to his or her corner unless the bout has been terminated by the referee or ringside physician.

No one shall throw any towel into the ring as a signal of defeat or for any other reason.

All substances applied to or into the body of a boxer between rounds shall be approved in advance by the commission. No substance not so approved by the commission shall be applied to or into the body of a boxer between rounds.

No excessive or undue spraying or throwing of water on any boxer between rounds is permitted.

Before the start of each bout the referee shall call the participants together for final instructions, at which time each participant shall be accompanied by his or her chief second only, except in the case of a boxer who also requires the services of an interpreter. After receiving the referee's instructions, the boxers shall shake hands or touch gloves and return to their corners to await the gong for the first round.

In all boxing contests and exhibitions, each boxer shall come to the center of the ring at the start of each round.

Rounds shall be 180 seconds long, unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission.

There shall be a 60 second intermission between rounds, unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission. The referee, at the request of the ringside physician, may extend this intermission, if necessary to examine a participant, for up to 30 additional seconds.

The promoter or associates and employees of the promoter and the matchmaker shall not coach any participant at any time during the progress of any contest or exhibition.

All participants and their seconds shall remain in or near the ring until the conclusion of a contest or exhibition and until the decision is announced in a contest, unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission.

After the decision of any contest has been announced, participants and their seconds shall leave the ring at once and retire to their dressing rooms, unless otherwise authorized by the commission. Participants and seconds are prohibited from indicating in any way to the officials or to the spectators their opinions as to who won or lost the contest or exhibition.

The following foul, dangerous, and unsportsmanlike practices are prohibited in all boxing matches: hitting below the belt; tripping; kicking; butting; kneeing; throttling; elbowing; striking with the head, shoulder, or forearm; hitting with open glove, or the inside, side or wrist of the glove; hitting on the back, especially the kidneys or the back of the neck; pivot blows; pressing an opponent's face with arm or elbow; attacking while holding the ropes and making use of the ropes in any other unfair way for attack purposes; pressing an opponent's head over the ropes or against the turnbuckles or ring posts; wrestling, lying on, and throwing while in a clinch; attacking in any way a fallen opponent; clinching, holding or locking an opponent's arms or head; pushing a stiff arm underneath an opponent's arm; holding and hitting; pulling and hitting; hitting on the break after a clinch; ducking low to upend an incoming opponent; thumbing and gouging of an opponent's eyes; rubbing an opponent's face with laces, adhesive tape, or any abrasive area of or substance on the gloves; use of any ointment, powder, or other substance intended or likely to cause danger or discomfort to an opponent.

All timekeepers, judges and referees for contests and exhibitions shall be appointed by the commission. All ring officials shall be approved by the commission. The number of ring officials required to be in attendance, or the substitution of ring officials for any reason at any time is solely within the power and discretion of the commission. All ring officials shall be compensated and provided with travel and meal reimbursement in such amounts and in such a manner as directed or otherwise approved by the commission. The commission shall determine the amount of the compensation and reimbursements of ring officials in accordance with reason and equity in the circumstances of the respective contests and exhibitions to which they shall be appointed. Ring officials appointed by the commission who are ready, willing and able to perform their assigned duties at any scheduled contest or exhibition, as determined by the commission, shall be entitled to compensation in an amount determined by the commission irrespective of whether such officials actually perform their assigned duties at such scheduled contest or exhibition. Compensation due ring officials shall be paid in full in each case by the promoter through the commission. The promoter of an event shall be given notice of the judges that are selected by the commission for assignment to judge at each contest at that event. Promoters shall be responsible for providing such information to all combatants and their managers participating in the promoter’s event. Any participant or his or her manager may protest the prospective assignment of a judge to their contest by a writing delivered to the commission office, and the participant or manager may be heard in writing by the commission or its designee if such protest is received by the commission within three days of the commission’s service of notice to the promoter of record. If the protest is untimely it shall be summarily rejected.

No boxer, manager, second, matchmaker, promoter, nor any employee or agent of any promoter, matchmaker, boxer, second or manager, shall officiate as a referee, judge, knockdown counter or timekeeper at any boxing contest or exhibition.

At every contest or exhibition the ring officials in attendance shall consist of at least one referee, three judges, one timekeeper, one knockdown counter and one announcer, unless otherwise directed or specifically approved by the commission. In addition, for all boxing contests or exhibitions, there shall be at least two physicians in attendance at ringside, unless a greater number is directed by the commission.

The commission shall appoint at least one referee to officiate at each contest or exhibition.

The referee shall exercise immediate authority, direction and control over contests and exhibitions to which he or she has been appointed. Before the start of each contest or exhibition under his or her direction, the referee shall ascertain the identity of the chief seconds of the respective participants and shall hold such chief seconds responsible for their own conduct and for the conduct of their respective assistant seconds in all matters pertinent to the contest or exhibition; the referee shall give such instructions to the participants and their seconds in the dressing room as he or she shall deem appropriate; the referee shall have and exercise in his or her discretion, the authority to remove or cause to be removed from the ring and or the vicinity thereof any person who interferes or attempts to interfere with the conduct of the contest or exhibition; before the start of each such contest or exhibition and from time to time, as he or she shall see fit, during the course thereof, he or she shall check the participants' gloves, equipment, and persons to assure that no unsafe or improper condition or conditions shall be permitted to exist; he or she shall observe carefully and continually the physical condition of the participants and shall have full and final responsibility, either at his or her own discretion or upon recommendation from the attending ringside physician for the immediate halting of any contest or exhibition wherein, for any reason, the safety of a participant would be jeopardized by continuance. The referee shall have exclusive authority in the event of injury to a participant, to interrupt the progress of a round by directing the timekeeper to stop the clock and calling the ringside physician into the ring to examine and advise upon the condition of the injured participant. If it shall be decided by the referee upon advice of the physician that such participant is fit to continue, the referee shall direct the timekeeper to start the clock and the round shall be resumed from the point of interruption, provided, however, that no such interruption of a round shall be ordered when the condition of the distressed party is such as would be materially remedied by an unscheduled rest period, except where the injury involved shall have resulted from a foul action by the opposing participant, when the referee, upon advice of the attending physician, shall order such reasonable rest period as shall be appropriate. The referee shall enforce the rules of boxing, as set forth by the commission, as well as those rules generally recognized in the sport under the traditional title of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules, as modified to current date by usage and written authority; the referee shall be authorized, in the event of foul tactics by a participant, to take away a point or points from the score of such participant at the end of the round in which such foul tactics shall have occurred, and when the referee has taken such action, he or she shall inform the judges and the chief seconds of the participants of the ruling prior to the start of the next round; the referee shall have the exclusive authority to stop a contest or exhibition at any stage because of a major foul being committed by either participant and to award the decision, under the circumstances, to the fouled participant; the referee shall have the exclusive authority to stop a contest or exhibition at any stage if he or she considers that one or both participants are failing to perform according to due standards of effort, ability or conduct, and in such event may disqualify one or both participants and if only one participant is disqualified the referee may award the contest or exhibition to the other by technical knockout; the referee shall have the exclusive authority to stop a contest or exhibition at any stage on the grounds that it is too one-sided.

In such event, he or she may award the contest or exhibition to the superior participant as a technical knockout; the referee shall have the exclusive authority to decide whether or not a boxer is knocked down during the course of a round and shall indicate such decision to the timekeeper or alternate referee whose count shall be accordingly continued or discontinued, and, if the count is to be continued, the referee shall pick it up orally and by gesture after first assuring that the opponent of the fallen participant shall have retreated to the most distant neutral corner of the ring; at the conclusion of each contest or exhibition under his or her direction, the referee shall confirm to the announcer and to the commission, the official result and whether it shall have been by decision on points, by knockout, by technical knockout, or by disqualification.

The commission shall appoint three judges to officiate at each contest or exhibition.

Judges shall observe carefully and expertly the performance of the participants in each contest or exhibition to which they are appointed; to appraise each such contest or exhibition fairly and accurately in the light of these rules and the generally recognized rules of boxing; to inscribe the results of such appraisal after each round on the commission scorecard according to the scoring system adopted by the commission; and to deliver said scorecards to the referee or to such other official as designated by the commission.

The commission shall appoint a timekeeper to officiate at each contest or exhibition, except exhibitions conducted solely for training or instruction purposes.

Each timekeeper shall have and maintain an accurate stop-watch or stop-clock, and also a whistle or buzzer or other auditory device, which shall be approved by the commission before each contest or exhibition to which the timekeeper has been appointed. The timekeeper shall sit outside the ring platform and close to the gong, bell or other approved auditory device. The timekeeper shall keep the time of each round and intermission by means of an accurate stop-watch or stop clock. He or she shall sound the gong, bell or other approved auditory device to begin and to end each round by striking it with a metal hammer or by other means approved by the commission. The timekeeper or alternate referee shall count for knockdowns by striking the floor of the ring or a suitable wooden striking board with a substantially constructed hammer or mallet or other means approved by the commission. The timekeeper shall signal by striking the floor of the ring or a suitable wooden striking board with a substantially constructed hammer or mallet or other means approved by the commission to indicate when only 10 seconds remains in a round. The timekeeper shall also signal by whistle or other means approved by the commission when 10 seconds remain before the beginning of a round, and at such signal all seconds shall leave the ring immediately and shall remove all stools and equipment from the ring immediately. Except as above, the timekeeper shall give no signal or other information during a contest or exhibition.

When a boxing contest or exhibition terminates before completion of the final scheduled round, the timekeeper shall record the exact time of termination and shall inform the announcer and the commission of the exact duration of the bout. When a boxing contest or exhibition terminates between rounds, the contest or exhibition shall be ruled to have ended in the round just terminated.

The promoter shall engage an announcer for each contest or exhibition, who shall be approved in advance by the commission. The promoter may be held responsible by the commission for the actions or omissions of their announcer.

The announcer shall be the master of ceremonies at each contest or exhibition. No announcements from the ring shall be made except by the announcer unless otherwise directed or authorized by the commission, and no announcements from the ring shall be made except as approved by the commission in advance. Introductions from the ring of individuals in attendance shall precede the announcement of the names and correct weights of the participants, and any other matters the announcer is directed to announce by the commission. The announcer shall announce the winner of each contest or exhibition at its conclusion.

All boxing contests and exhibitions shall be contested according to the Unified Rules of Boxing as adopted and amended by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) as set forth in this part, unless otherwise authorized or directed by the commission. Under no circumstances, however, shall the broad powers of any physician as provided for in State law and the rules of the commission be restricted in any manner by application of the Unified Rules of Boxing. The authority to render final determinations based on the application and interpretation of the Unified Rules of Boxing for contests held within the State of New York shall be vested in the commission.

All boxing contests and exhibitions shall be scored by three judges.

At the conclusion of each round, each judge shall score each participant's performance on these four items, using the ten-point-must system.

The judges shall score a knockdown only when a knockdown is so ruled by the referee.

At the end of each round, each judge shall mark his or her scorecard with the score of each boxer in such round along with a brief explanation of such judge’s reason for the score, and shall deliver the scorecard to the referee, who shall in turn deliver the scorecards of all judges to the commission. Thereafter, the commission representatives shall be the only persons authorized to view the judge’s scores until such time as the final tally is presented to the announcer at the conclusion of the match in accordance with section 211.47 of this Part.

At the conclusion of a contest or exhibition, except a contest or exhibition which has been concluded by knockout, technical knockout, disqualification or a declaration of “no decision,” the commission shall tally the total points awarded to each participant and shall communicate same to the announcer.

The announcer shall announce the decision of the judges from the ring, and shall call out the total points awarded by each judge. The boxer who has more points on the scorecard of the official is the winner on that judge's scorecard. The boxer who has been awarded the decision on at least two of the three judges' scorecards is the winner of the bout. In the event that neither boxer has been awarded the decision on at least two of the three judges’ scorecards, the decision shall be a draw.

In the event that a boxer loses his or her mouthpiece, the referee shall call time during a lull in the action of the contest and cause such boxer's seconds to install a backup mouthpiece or promptly wash and reinstall the same mouthpiece. If a referee determines that a boxer has deliberately spit out his or her mouthpiece for any reason, the referee may issue a warning to such boxer or deduct one or more points from such boxer and, upon any subsequent such infraction, may disqualify the boxer by declaring the opponent a winner.

A boxer is down if:

When a participant is down, the timekeeper or alternate referee shall at once commence calling off the seconds, indicating the count with a motion of his or her arm. The referee shall immediately order the other participant to a neutral corner and shall thereafter pick up the count from the timekeeper or alternate referee and indicate it with a motion of his or her arm. If a participant is unable to continue at the count of 10, the referee shall declare the other participant the winner by a knockout.

The referee shall count out a boxer who falls to the floor claiming foul because of a low blow. If a participant who has been knocked or has fallen through the ropes and onto the ring apron fails to be on his or her feet in the ring before the expiration of 10 seconds, the referee shall count him or her out as if he or she were down. If a participant who has been knocked or has fallen out of the ring and off the ring apron fails to be on his or her feet in the ring before the expiration of 20 seconds, the referee shall count him or her out as if he or she were down. A participant who has fallen or has been knocked out of the ring shall return to the ring unassisted. The referee may count out or deem counted out a boxer rendered unconscious or unable to rise during such time as medical attention is being provided to the boxer, and award a knockout.

If the contestant taking the count is still down when the referee calls the count of 10, or, if in the opinion of the referee, the contestant who was knocked down is in no condition to continue, the referee shall wave both arms to indicate a knockout.

The referee may stop a contest or exhibition at any time if he or she considers it too one-sided, or if either participant is in such condition that to continue would, in the judgment of the referee, be too dangerous to his or her health and safety. In the event the referee stops a contest or exhibition as aforesaid, the referee shall award the other participant the victory by technical knockout. In any contest or exhibition, the awarding of a victory therein for any reason other than a knockout, disqualification or decision on points shall be deemed a technical knockout.

If the contest is terminated between rounds, it shall be recorded as having concluded in the round just terminated. However, if the bell for the subsequent round has already sounded, the contest shall be recorded as having ended in the subsequent round.

A championship may be lost by default, forfeit, or inability to pass the scale, but a championship shall only be won by a contender in a contest.

No championship bout may be held in the State of New York, except one held in accordance with these rules.

In order to sanction a championship bout to be held within the State of New York, a sanctioning body must have filed the following with the commission:

The commission shall not accept for filing any criteria for ranking boxers that:

Within 10 days after a contract to hold a championship bout in New York has been signed, the sanctioning body shall file with the commission: