Legislation intended to improve the safety of professional boxing and protect athletes from abuse has been approved by the U.S. House.

Congressman Tim Walberg tells us the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act of 2026 after hearing from advocates seeking further protections for boxers.

“Boxing is the only sport that Congress regulates, and so a number of entities involved with these pugilistic sports and the widow of Muhammad Ali came to Congress and asked that we would put some reform in the act,” Walberg said. 

Among other things, the legislation establishes new Unified Boxing Organizations, or UBOs, to create parallel opportunities for boxers to compete fairly. It also requires minimum medical insurance coverage for all professional boxers and ensures medical personnel are present at every fight.

“It provides a significant increase in health and safety considerations. It increases the minimum payouts for boxers so they aren’t used and abused like slaves. We put in some significant enhancement of training and safety in training.”

Walberg says while working on the legislation, the committee learned the majority of boxing injuries actually occur during training. He adds for too long, fighters and fans have seen the sport plagued by weak oversight and few guardrails that push fighters into dangerous or lopsided bouts. The bill seeks to address that.

The legislation now heads to the Senate.