The sport’s promoters have found themselves placing one date after the next on hold due to a lack of coverage.
Boxing event insurance is finally on its way to New York to reduce the struggles faced by the sport’s promoters in the state. At least four dates have already been postponed or placed on hold with the New York State Athletic Commission between January and March. The reason is that it wasn’t clear whether or not it would be possible to obtain coverage for them.
Without the right insurance coverage, it is not legally permitted to hold those types of events.
These changes are all underway as a result of a New York state regulation that became effective on September 1. The new boxing event insurance regulations are a part of the overall change in coverage requirements for combat sports in New York. This includes everything from traditional boxing to mixed martial arts.
When mixed martial arts became legal in the state, it changed the way coverage was required and left boxing promoters without the ability to purchase insurance policies for their events. Since that time, the sport has been essentially dormant in New York. The last event was on August 21 in Brooklyn on Coney Island.
The lack of boxing event insurance led to the cancellation of a number of cards until the end of 2016.
However, months of ongoing negotiations have led to a breakthrough in insurance coverage. Policies will soon be available to promoters. This means that events that have been placed on hold at the start of next year may soon be going live. That said, it’s clear that the cost for insuring those events will be notably higher.
A new boxing event insurance policy has received by the state’s Department of Financial Services. This product is sold by United States Fire Insurance Co. It should be ready in time to cover the first card on the New York State Athletic Commission’s schedule on January 14, 2017. That will be held in Brooklyn at Barclays Center for the super middleweight title unification.
Laz Benitez, NYSAC spokesperson, explained “It is our understanding that a combat sports insurance policy has been approved with an insurance carrier [United States Fire Insurance Co.] and will soon be made available to promoters.”
