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Kickboxing Under Attack In New York
THE KICKBOXING CORRESPONDENCE by Eddie Goldman

Kickboxing is in big trouble in New York, and apparently in no small part because of the new attitude of the scandal-plagued New York State Athletic Commission. We have been writing for some time now about the outrageous activities of the New York State Liquor Authority in closing down several kickboxing shows. Many of us also wanted to find out the official attitude of the New York State Athletic Commission to this. An e-mail was sent from a kickboxing promoter to Raymond Locascio of the New York commission. Locascio, it should be noted, has since left the commission, but was still on it when he sent a response, dated Sept. 17. Here is what he wrote, spelling errors and all:

From: "Raymond Locascio: RLocasci@dos.state.ny.us
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 12:39 PM
Subject: clarification
Pursuant to your e-mail , the New York State Athletic Commission does not regulate and ha no authority over martial arts competion in New York State.
Kickboxing is considered a martial arts and the Commission does not have and control over these type of competion.

This seemed like good news, but I then wrote Locascio asking for more information and clarifications. This was sent directly to Raymond Locascio's e-mail address listed above. The commission is part of the Dept. of State, hence the domain name.
I did not receive a reply from Locascio. Instead, the following reply arrived on Oct. 1 from Hugo B. Spindola, General Counsel for the New York State Athletic Commission. As you will see, it indicates a new and patently absurd extension of the definition of the illegal "combative sports" to kickboxing. Here it is, spelling and punctuation errors intact:

Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 13:02:11 -0400
From: "Hugo Spindola" HSpindol@dos.state.ny.us
To: knockoutradio@yahoo.com
Subject: Kickboxing
Dear Mr. Goldman:
The New York State Athletic Commission is in receipt of your email dated September 19, 2002, regarding kickboxing. In order to answer your question one must look at the section of the law in New York State which covers "combative sports." The relevant section - Section 8905-a of the Unconsolidated Laws - defines combative sports as "any professional match or exhibition other than boxing, sparring, wrestling or martial arts...the term 'martial arts' shall include any professional match or exhibition sanctioned by any of the following organizations: U.S. Judo Association, U.S. Judo, Inc., U.S. Judo Federation, U.S. Tae Kwon Do Union, North American Sport Karate Association, U.S.A. Karate Foundation, U.S. Karate, Inc., World Karate Association, Professional Karate Association, Karate International, International Kenpo Association, or World Wide Kenpo Association."
Although I do not have any personal knowledge as to the specific organizers who have had their shows "closed down", I will note that their events were probably not sanctioned by any of the above listed governing bodies. As such, they would then fall into the "combative sports" definition.
I hope this response fulfills your previous request.
Very truly yours,
Hugo B. Spindola
General Counsel
New York State Athletic Comission
123 William Street - 20th Floor
New York, New York 10038
(212) 417-5700

Here was my reply to Mr. Spindola:

Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 12:10:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Eddie Goldman" knockoutradio@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Kickboxing
To: "Hugo Spindola" HSpindol@dos.state.ny.us
Thank you for your reply. You did not include the entire paragraph which you quoted. The part which you deleted reads:
The commission is authorized to promulgate regulations which would establish a process to allow for the inclusion or removal of martial arts organizations from the above list. Such process shall include but not be limited to consideration of the following factors:
(a) is the organization`s primary purpose to provide instruction in self defense techniques;
(b) does the organization require the use of hand, feet and groin protection during any competition or bout; and
(c) does the organization have an established set of rules that require the immediate termination of any competition or bout when any participant has received severe punishment or is in danger of suffering serious physical injury.
Thus both the letter and intent of the law is not to limit or restrict sanctioning only to "the above listed governing bodies."
I would thus like to know just what the commission has done in the five years since this law was passed to fulfill its legal obligation to "establish a process to allow for the inclusion or removal of martial arts organizations from the above list." I would like the dates and summaries of all hearings or reports issued on this subject.
If there have been none, as I suspect, then your commission has not fulfilled its obligations under the law. Further, your opinion was not shared by Raymond Locascio, who wrote to a kickboxing promoter on Sept. 17, "that the New York State Athletic Commission does not regulate and ha no authority over martial arts competion in New York State. Kickboxing is considered a martial arts and the Commission does not have and control over these type of competion." (spelling errors left intact)
Mr. Locascio has since left the commission, but your statement means that in the last two weeks, the commission has changed its opinion. Please relay to me what hearings were held for this. Please relay to me what examination of the track record of these promoters you took into account. Please relay to me what medical experts were consulted. Please relay to me what martial arts experts were consulted. Please relay to me what other commissioners in the Association of Boxing Commissions were consulted.
If none of these investigations were undertaken, which I also suspect, I sincerely hope that you will rapidly reconsider your position. If you do not, I would not be surprised if your commission once again becomes the subject of calls for reorganization, as it did following the Floyd Patterson scandal, the Lewis-Holyfield 1 scandal, the Gatti-Gamache weigh-in scandal, the Beethavean Scottland scandal, the Camacho Jr. scandal, and the other lesser scandals with which it is associated.
Sincerely,
Eddie Goldman
"Knockout Radio" on www.Maxboxing.com
Wrestling Editor, Grappling
Columnist, ADCC News and W.I.N.

So as you can see, yet another combat sport is in danger of being exterminated by the New York politicians and their appointees at the athletic commission.

Make your voice heard, and demand that New York join the other top state commissions in legalizing and sanctioning all the combat sports. If you stay silent, you will have plenty of extra time to cry about it later when these politicians close down everything they either do not understand or are not involved with in one way or another.