Terms Used In Florida Statutes 548.057

  • Boxing: means the unarmed combat sport of fighting by striking with fists. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Commission: means the Florida Athletic Commission. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Contest: means a boxing, kickboxing, or mixed martial arts engagement in which persons participating strive to win using strikes and blows to the head or other full-contact maneuvers. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Event: means one or more matches comprising a show. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Exhibition: means a boxing, kickboxing, or mixed martial arts engagement in which persons participating show or display their skill without necessarily striving to win using strikes and blows to the head or other full-contact maneuvers. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Judge: means a person licensed by the commission who evaluates and scores a match using a designated scoring system. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Match: means a contest or exhibition. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • Participant: means a professional competing in a boxing, kickboxing, or mixed martial arts match. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
  • Promoter: means a person or entity, including an officer, director, trustee, partner, or owner of a corporate promoter or promoter partnership, who produces, arranges, or stages a match involving a professional. See Florida Statutes 548.002
  • writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01

(1) At each boxing match involving a participant, except at an exhibition held solely for training purposes, at the expense of the promoter, a referee designated by the commission shall direct and control the match.
(2) At each contest, at the expense of the promoters, three judges appointed by the executive director as delegated by the commission shall attend and shall render their individual decisions in writing on scorecards supplied by the commission. Each judge shall have one vote, and a majority of the votes cast shall determine the winner.
(3) The commission shall ensure that all referees, judges, and other officials are Florida-licensed officials qualified pursuant to rules of the commission and that no sanctioning organization or promoter has been permitted to influence the appointment of any officials, and shall prescribe the methods of scoring.
(4) Before the start of any match, the referee shall obtain the name of each participant’s chief second. The chief second shall be responsible for the conduct of her or his assistants during the match.
(5) For matches other than boxing, the commission shall establish such standards and requirements for referees as are deemed necessary.
(6) No judge licensed in this state shall act as a judge at any match in a state, territory, commonwealth, or Native American Reservation that is not regulated by a state boxing commission unless the match is supervised by a state boxing commission or a Native American commission properly constituted under federal law.
(7) No judge shall also serve as a supervisor or on the ratings committee or recommend boxers to the ratings committee for a sanctioning body.
(8) Any person whose application for a judge’s license has been denied shall not be permitted to reapply for a judge’s license for a period of 6 months. Any person whose application for a judge’s license has been denied on three occasions shall not be permitted to reapply.
(9) The number of judges shall be assigned in accordance with rules of the commission. The number of unofficial judges at each event shall be limited to three by the commission.
(10) The judges shall be located in seats designated for them by the commission representative.
(11) If sufficient judges are not available, a referee shall be selected to act as a judge for that specific program of matches.