Sports

California to step up efforts to find boxers owed pensions following Times report

Published

12 months ago

May 31, 2023

California to step up efforts to find boxers owed pensions following Times report

SACRAMENTO —

California is overhauling the nation’s only pension plan for retired boxers following a Times investigation that found the safety net for vulnerable fighters is failing its most critical mission — informing those owed benefits.

The California State Athletic Commission, which administers the little-known 40-year-old pension plan, said it will begin sending annual statements to all vested boxers beginning early next year and that it has brought in state investigators to search for fighters with unclaimed money — some of whom have been owed for decades.

Roughly 200 boxers could have claimed a pension last year, but only 12 of them (6%) did, according to The Times’ investigation.

More than two dozen retired boxers owed pensions told the paper they could not recall ever receiving information from the commission informing them that they qualified or how to apply. They knew little about other benefits of their pensions — such as the ability to withdraw money early to pay for medical expenses or vocational education.

Some, like heavyweight journeyman Mike Jameson, said they had never heard of the California Professional Boxers’ Pension Plan, which is paid for through a fee on ticket sales to boxing events.

“I don’t want to browbeat them, but they could have done a much better job letting people know,” said Jameson, a 68-year-old retired boxer from San Jose who first learned he was owed a pension from The Times. “It’s great to hear they are going to do more.”

Jameson applied for his benefits in April and last week received a $12,000 check.

State Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) said he was alarmed to read The Times’ story and immediately called the athletic commission to ensure changes were made not just to the boxers pension, but also to a bill he is authoring to create a similar retirement plan for mixed martial arts fighters.

Haney amended Assembly Bill 1136 to require that the commission send annual statements informing future vested MMA fighters of their account balances. The Assembly is due to vote on the bill this week and, if passed as expected, it would move to the Senate.

“The boxers’ pension is critical, but it can be improved,” Haney said in an interview outside the Assembly chambers. “I hope that as we move this MMA pension bill through the process, we correct some of the challenges that exist with the boxers’ pension and don’t replicate them — and that we also fix it for boxers as well. We have to let folks know who qualify and we have to make sure they can access it, otherwise this isn’t going to work.”

The MMA bill notes that as a group, professional athletes in combat sports may end up injured, destitute and suffer “extraordinary disabilities” as a result of their profession, including “acute and traumatic brain injuries, resulting from multiple concussions as well as from repeated exposure to a large number of sub-concussive punches and kicks, eye injuries, including retinal tears, holes and detachments, and other neurological impairments.”

If the bill becomes law, the commission would adopt regulations determining how many fights would be needed to become eligible for the MMA pension. Haney said he expects fighters would become vested after 12 to 14 fights in California.

California’s pension for boxers was created in 1982 and provides mostly lump-sum payments to fighters who have logged at least 75 scheduled rounds in California without more than a three-year break. The amount a boxer receives is based on how many rounds they fought and the purse for those bouts.

Once a boxer turns 50 and is eligible to apply for their pension, the amount they are owed is set and does not increase. Retirement plan experts said that means the longer it takes a boxer to claim their pension, the more it diminishes in value due to inflation.

Currently, the boxers’ pension pays an average of $17,000 in a lump-sum payment to retirees, according to a Times’ analysis of commission records.

The boxers’ pension plan began making payments to eligible boxers in 1999 and, to date, has provided 235 retired fighters a total of $4 million. Most of that has been paid in the last decade. However, an additional 200 boxers are owed pensions and have not claimed them.

“They never said anything about it when I was a pro,” said welterweight Mike Dallas Jr., 36, of Bakersfield, who retired from boxing in 2020.

That left him unsure if he qualified for a pension. The commission verified to The Times that Dallas has a pension, which he can claim when he turns 50.

Dallas learned from a Times reporter that the plan allows boxers as young as 36 to withdraw all or some of the money they’ve accrued to pay for vocational education.

“I could have used that when I was going to trucking school,” Dallas said.

He said he recently learned his father, Mike Dallas Sr., is owed nearly $13,000 in benefits. Dallas Sr., who fought as a lightweight, died in 2012 from leukemia at 45. Dallas Jr. said his dad likely never knew he had a pension, which was eligible to be paid to his family immediately after his death.

“I never knew about it, nobody did, not my dad, not anyone,” said Dallas Jr., who plans to file a claim for his father’s pension.

Retirement planning experts said a pension plan structured like California’s should mail annual statements as soon as a person is vested to ensure recipients know about their benefits and can plan for their future. It also ensures the plan has regular contact with its beneficiaries.

However, the athletic commission has waited until a boxer turns 50 before attempting to contact them for the first time. By then, the vast majority of addresses on file are decades old.

In response to The Times’ story, the commission will begin sending statements when a boxer first meets minimum requirements for a future pension and then every year thereafter. That change is expected to begin early next year, said the commission’s executive officer, Andy Foster.

The agency is also now using the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Division of Investigation to obtain up-to-date contact information for boxers with unclaimed pensions, said Foster, who also plans to hire a private investigator to locate additional fighters.

The commission is in the process of posting a new licensing application that includes a pension acknowledgment form that boxers sign as a way of ensuring new fighters know they are automatically enrolled in the plan.

Over the past decade, the commission has, on average, paid 15 boxers each year. So far this year, the commission said it has sent pension checks to 10 boxers. Another three will be paid once the commission transfers funds to pay them, while four others are in the process of filing paperwork.

The Times spoke to several others who said they plan to file for their newly discovered pensions in the coming weeks.

Foster said he has set a goal of providing benefits to 50 boxers this year — which would double the number of boxers paid in a single year, according to commission records analyzed by The Times.

“I’m just trying to get people paid,” Foster said. “If they are owed money, get them paid.”

The pension plan, however, has a rocky history of generating adequate revenue and it does not have enough money to pay all of the boxers who can claim a pension now without reducing what others receive in the future.

The plan set aside only 14% of the $2.1 million needed to pay boxers with late claims — which includes those who have not filed for their pension before turning 54.

If the commission has more late claims than funds available, it would reduce the amount of money in the accounts of fighters who are not yet 50.

Foster downplayed the impact of a large number of boxers applying for their pensions at once.

“If you’re in your 30s and you’re vested, you may see some decline,” Foster said. “It might happen, but the market will probably go up and they will see it back.”

The commission is looking at additional revenue sources for the boxers pension and is planning to raise its 88-cent ticket fee to $1 in the coming months, Foster said.

The MMA pension bill calls for that plan to be funded with a ticket fee — expected to be set at $1 — at those events and souvenir sales. At its board meeting next week, the commission will discuss a plan to pursue additional funding for both pensions by creating a specialty license plate, which has generated millions for other state programs.

Haney, the lawmaker carrying the MMA pension bill, said he would like to see the boxers’ and MMA pension plans provide an annual check that can better aid fighters in retirement.

“Many of these [MMA] fighters would qualify for it 20, 30 years from now, so we have some time to get this right,” Haney said. “In the case of the boxers’ [plan], we have to fix the flaws.”

Sports

Timberwolves, and their bigs, get last laugh against defending champs

Published

34 mins ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Timberwolves, and their bigs, get last laugh against defending champs

DENVER — The notion that the Minnesota Timberwolves’ magic began and ended with Rudy Gobert was so hilariously apropos.

They were down 20 points against the defending champion Denver Nuggets with 22 minutes left to play when the NBA’s most divisive player sparked a turnaround for the ages.

History was on the Nuggets’ side, with teams that led at halftime by at least 15 points in Game 7s having gone 21-0 to that point (Indiana had joined that list against the Knicks earlier in the day). Charles Barkley was too, as the Hall of Famer and TNT analyst was calling for Minnesota coach Chris Finch to “take Gobert out the game.”

But then Nikola Jokić lost Gobert on the left wing, and Karl-Anthony Towns found the French big man with a dump-off pass for a dunk with 9:51 left in the third quarter that most observers — yours truly included — thought very little of at the time.

A quick confession about something that happened on press row right around that time: For the first time in 20 years covering the Association, I prematurely booked my flight and hotel in the wrong city for the subsequent series because, well, it just felt like it was over. Off to Denver for Game 1 of the West Finals against Dallas on Wednesday.

Or … not.

By the time this slog of a game reached the 7:43 mark of the fourth quarter, when Gobert buried that miraculous spinning fadeaway from the left side that was so unexpectedly Jokić-esque, the Timberwolves had gone on a 41-17 run that featured all that was so good about their resilient program.

The suffocating defense that had come to define them was back, with the Nuggets missing 15 of 21 shots during that span (Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. were a combined 1 of 8). Meanwhile, Minnesota turned the tide on the rebounding front in the process — the Wolves were outrebounded 29-18 in the first half, but had a 17-7 edge in that stretch.

“It showed us who we are, because the coaches believed in us even though at halftime — even in the third — we were down 20. They were like, ‘Just keep making runs. Keep making runs,’” said Anthony Edwards, who had just four points in the first half, but finished with 16 points (on 6 of 24 shooting), eight rebounds, seven assists and a plus-11 mark. “And It showed us who we are, man. Once we really lock in on the defensive end — because offensively we played okay — but when we really lock in on the defensive end, man, we are a hell of a team to beat.”

The Timberwolves offense that had sputtered all night was suddenly alive because of the defense. Nearly every player of significance pitched in for a 15-of-25 shooting effort that propelled the Timberwolves to their first West finals appearance since 2004 after their 98-90 win. But that shot by Gobert was the chef’s kiss, the kind of lasting image that should spawn a basketball section in the Louvre.

MY GOODNESS, BIG RU. pic.twitter.com/S2XEQaummo
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) May 20, 2024

To hear Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns discuss it afterward, when they sat side-by-side at the news conference and hilariously recapped the way the game had turned around, was to understand the cohesion of personality and personnel that has played such a big part in their hoops story to this point.

“The Rudy Gobert turnaround was crazy,” Towns proclaimed.

“When Rudy hit the turnaround, I was like, ‘Yeah, we’ve probably got ‘em,” Edwards said with a laugh. “I know that’ll kill the whole — that’ll kill everything. Big shout-out to Big Ru’, man. He hit a turnaround on their ass.”

“On God’s day, too,” said Towns, who has so impressively evolved from being the Timberwolves’ franchise centerpiece player to this selfless and capable No. 2 behind Edwards. “On God’s day, too.”

It wasn’t just the Lord’s day, though. It was the 20-year anniversary of Minnesota’s Game 7 win over Sacramento in the West semifinals, the last time the franchise made it to the West finals. Kevin Garnett, who just so happened to turn 48 on Sunday as well, had famously promised to bring all the proverbial artillery to that Game 7 showdown against the Kings.

This decisive moment, more than anything, was a case of the Nuggets forgetting there are 48 minutes in an NBA game.

Murray came out swinging, scoring 24 of his 33 points in the first half after an atrocious Game 6 performance in which he’d missed 14 of 18 shots. If he was going to keep playing like that, and if Edwards was going to keep letting all those Nuggets double teams take the ball out of his hands when it mattered most, the rest was fait accompli. But then the redemptive arc took hold.

Towns, who so many had pegged as the odd man out when the Timberwolves’ salary cap sheet became a point of focus after the Gobert trade in the summer of 2022, carried the otherwise-awful Wolves offense throughout while doing a capable job guarding Jokić.

He hit 8 of 14 shots in all for 23 points, with 12 rebounds to boot, while posting a plus-10 mark. As Edwards walked with Towns to their joint news conference, he made a bold statement that should be considered within the full context of the Nuggets environment.

“They didn’t have no answer for Karl,” Edwards said as he walked. “Karl’s the baddest big on the planet.”

Here in this Ball Arena, where Jokić has won three of the past four MVP awards and where Denver’s 2023 title broke a half-century championship drought for the franchise, Edwards decided to declare Towns’ place among the best bigs of them all.

Yet as salvation stories go, none of the Timberwolves’ can compare to Gobert. Even with his subpar first half that re-sparked the conversation about whether he is a winning player — a debate that has raged on for years now and led to his unwelcome distinction as the league’s most overrated player in the latest The Athletic player poll — Gobert found a way to have the last laugh.

He finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and a plus-10 rating. Including the first round, when the Timberwolves swept the Phoenix Suns, Gobert now has a plus-minus mark of plus-111 that is the best on the team (Edwards is second at plus-103). But sure, Chuck, tell us again how Gobert is unplayable when it matters most.

“I don’t watch those guys, so I don’t know what they talk about, but they have to talk about something,” Gobert said when asked about Barkley’s commentary. “But yeah, I’m glad (Timberwolves) coach (Chris Finch) didn’t listen to his advice.”

Of all the Timberwolves folks who represented their team’s willingness to fight, Finch might top the list. He tore his patellar tendon after a collision with Mike Conley in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Suns, then spent the second round sitting in the second row while assistant coach Micah Nori assumed the vast majority of the sideline duties.

But late in Game 7 against the Nuggets, when every possession ran the risk of deciding the game and every play call carried that same weight, Finch suddenly sprung up from his chair to ensure his voice was heard. He has been at it with this group since the middle of the 2020-21 season, when he left his job as a Toronto Raptors assistant coach to take over for the fired Ryan Saunders. Edwards was midway through his first season at that time, and the clear connection between the 22-year-old rising star and Finch has everything to do with the historic state of Timberwolves affairs currently unfolding.

“It starts with our head coach — Coach Finch,” Edwards said afterward. “He comes in every day, comes to work, gets there early. He’s thinking of ways to get Ant and KAT open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Mike and Rudy open looks. He’s thinking of ways to get Jaden (McDaniels) involved. He’s trying to keep Naz (Reid) in it to get him involved. He’s just a great coach. And he don’t sugarcoat anything.

“If Kat f—–’ up, he’s going to get on KAT. If I’m f—–’ up, he’s going to get on me. If Rudy f—–’ up, he going to get on anybody that’s messing up throughout the game, and I think that’s what makes him the best coach in the NBA, to me. Because no matter who it is, no matter how high up on the pole, he’s going to get on you from start to finish. It starts with the head of the snake, and he’s the head of our snake. We all look up to him, listen to him, and he (does) a great job of making sure we’re ready to go every night.”

Finch, who spent the the 2016-17 season in Denver as an associate head coach alongside the Nuggets’ Michael Malone, knows as well as any what this Game 7 win means.

“It’s a big moment for our club,” Finch said. “Everybody talks about the last 30 years (in Minnesota), which mean nothing to me. But it does mean a lot to a lot of people to see this team, (who) root for this team. The city is behind this team. And to beat a team like Denver on their home floor the way we did, of course it was going to mean a lot.”

(Photo of Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokić: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Sports

NBA Conference Finals preview: What to look forward to in the East and West

Published

1 hour ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

The 2024 Eastern and Western Conference Finals matchups are set. The top-seeded Boston Celtics host the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers to open the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night.

The No. 3 seed Minnesota Timberwolves defeated last year’s champion, the Denver Nuggets, and will welcome the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will welcome the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

BIGGEST CONCERNS FOR EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS

Kristaps Porziņģis appeared in 57 regular season games in his first year with the Celtics. However, his health continues to be a point of concern. He suffered an injury in Boston’s first round series with the Miami Heat. He missed the entire conference semifinals, but ESPN reported that Porziņģis will likely sit out Games 1 and 2 of the conference finals.

TIMBERWOLVES’ POSTSEASON PARTY CONTINUES AS ANTHONY EDWARDS PLAYS BEYOND HIS YEARS

The Pacers appear to enter the series close to full strength, but Indiana’s defense will likely be the team’s biggest concern in the conference finals. The Pacers will need to employ a strong defensive game plan to try and slow the Celtics’ high-powered offense.

The top-seeded Boston Celtics will host the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers to open the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

BIGGEST CONCERNS FOR WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS

Two-time NBA All-Star Anthony Edwards has taken the league by storm this postseason. The Dallas Mavericks coaching staff will be tasked with finding a way to contain Edwards.

Karl-Anthony Towns, the top pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, appeared to take a major step forward in the conference semifinals. Rudy Gobert recently won his third NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, and while Gobert’s defensive prowess speaks for itself, the Timberwolves as a whole will have to contend with the Mavericks’ two-headed monster — Kyric Irving and Luka Doncic.

The final four teams are set for the NBA Finals. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

While the Timberwolves outlasted the Nuggets in the semifinals, the construction of the Mavs roster presents a much different challenge.

WHEN ARE THE CONFERENCE FINALS?

The Eastern Conference Finals begins on Tuesday night at the TD Garden in Boston. Game 2 tips off on May 23, before the series shifts to Indiana for Game 3 and 4.

The Timberwolves hold home court in the West and will host Game 1 on May 22. Game 2 is scheduled for May 24.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Chantz Martin is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.

Sports

Many familiar names on roster as U..S. women's soccer team readies for Olympics

Published

1 hour ago

May 21, 2024

Press Room

Many familiar names on roster as U..S. women's soccer team readies for Olympics

Emma Hayes called up her first roster as coach of the women’s national team Tuesday and it includes a lot of familiar names, with 19 players from April’s roster returning for a pair of friendlies with South Korea next month.

Hayes, whose $2-million salary makes her the highest-paid women’s coach in the world, was named U.S. coach in November but couldn’t take charge of the team until she finished her duties with Chelsea of the Women’s Super League. That happened last weekend when Chelsea beat Manchester United 6-0 to win its fifth straight WSL title under Hayes.

Now she takes over the women’s national team less than 10 weeks before its Olympic opener, giving her precious little time to get acquainted with her players. That may be one reason why Hayes called in veteran Alex Morgan, who recently returned to training after being sidelined a month with an ankle injury. Also summoned to training camp is midfielder Rose Lavelle, who has been limited to 169 minutes with her NWSL club, Gotham FC, because of a leg injury.

Notable among the absences is goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who missed the Chicago Red Stars game last weekend with a left thigh injury. The injury isn’t considered serious and Naeher is likely to be ready for the Olympics.

Despite the injuries to Morgan, Lavelle and Naeher, the U.S. team is healthier than it has been in some time with Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson joining a deep forward line that also includes Sophia Smith, the reigning NWSL scoring leader, and teenager Jaedyn Shaw, who leads the national team with five goals and one assist in eight appearances in 2024.

In fact, the U.S. is so deep at the position Lynn Williams, who became the all-time NWSL scoring leader with her 79^th career goal Sunday, didn’t make the team. The 23 players that did average 26.3 years of age, making Hayes’ team more than two years younger than the one that bowed out of last summer’s World Cup in the round of 16.

Still, the clock is ticking for Hayes, who will have to whittle her team down to 18 for Paris. The players will have two dress rehearsals with friendlies against South Korea on June 1 in suburban Colorado and on June 4 in St. Paul. Minn. After Hayes chooses her Olympic team, the U.S. will play send-off games against Mexico on July 13 in Harrison, N.J., and against Costa Rica three days later in Washington, D.C.

The roster

Goalkeepers: Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage)

Defenders: Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Sam Staab (Chicago Red Stars)

Midfielders: Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon), Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Lily Yohannes (Ajax)

Forwards: Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars)