6/19/06 - article by The Daily Advertiser
Chairman: State boxing thriving
John Rowland/jrowland@theadvertiser.com
State boxing and Wrestling Commission Chairman Buddy Embanato watches the Saturday night fights at Blackham.
Boxing has been Buddy Embanato's passion for much of his adult life, so he knew what he was
getting himself into three years ago when he became chairman of the Louisiana State Boxing
and Wrestling Commission. The 62-year-old Monroe resident heads up a seven-member commission
that conducts all aspects of the sport in the state, while finding time for his "real" job
as owner of an insurance agency. Watching all the tasks that Embanato and his commission
members toil with every time there's a professional card in the state, as in last Saturday's
card at Blackham Coliseum, makes one realize that at least one state commission more than
earns its pay. Daily Advertiser senior sports writer Dan McDonald followed Embanato for
much of the past weekend, and sat down during a rare Saturday break to talk about the
commission and the sport.
Q: How is the commission set up?
A: We've got five members from the five Public Service Commission districts and two at-large.
I've chosen to make my primary function the boxing side, and John Green, Jr. (the secretary-treasurer
from Lake Charles) handles wrestling, mixed martial arts and other areas. We've got good people
in our group, two of them from right around here (Deirdre Gogarty of Lafayette and Bobby Dupre
of Opelousas), and it's a good thing because it's pretty close to a full-time job for damn
near no pay. But none of the commissioners are in it for the money.
We're one of the true working commissions. We have no staff, so everybody has to do it all.
They all know if each of us doesn't pull our load, it's an impossible job.
Q: What are the duties of the commission when there is a professional boxing show in the state?
A: For a Saturday show, I'll usually come into town on Thursday, but I will have worked on the show
leading up to it for several days. The promoter and matchmaker will bring the matchups to me, and
I'll check the records, what they've done, who they've fought and make sure it's paired up as
fairly as we can. I'll arrange for judges, referees, timekeepers, wrap inspectors, corner
inspectors, doctors, the whole staff.
We'll do the weigh-in the day before, and I'll check weights, contracts, make sure each fighter is
contracted for a certain dollar amount, make sure they all have a federal ID card and are licensed
either by us or another state, and make sure they meet certain physical requirements like a
negative HIV test. The fighters' health and safety are probably our main concern. Then I'll go
back and get all the scorecards ready, do financial statements and other paperwork.
When I get to the arena, I'll check the ring, make sure it has the right padding, all the equipment
that's needed, buckets, stools and the right weight gloves, make sure the barricades are set up around
the ring. In the dressing room, we'll make sure our people are in place to check wraps and equipment.
Then we'll do the bouts, check the scoring and make sure all the rules are adhered to.
Q: Does anybody outside the commission realize how many details you're handling?
A: I'm sure they don't, but it's all behind the scenes things. It's like having a good referee. If
you finish a bout and you don't know the referee's been there, he's done a good job. If we have
a good show, most people shouldn't know we've even been in the building.
Q: What's your feeling on the status of boxing in the state?
A: Actually I think it's pretty good. It died down some with Katrina, but not as much as you
might think. Everybody outside Louisiana thinks that New Orleans is the Mecca of boxing in
the state, and actually we only had two shows in New Orleans all of last year out of 28 we
had in the state. We've had more shows in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Kinder, Marksville,
Alexandria, all around the state. And that's good for boxing. That means that local
kids get to fight near their hometowns.
Q: You mentioned Kinder and Marksville. How much has it helped the sport that several of
the casinos are now hosting regular boxing shows?
A: The Coushatta group at Kinder and the Tunica-Biloxi tribe at Paragon do a great job.
We've hosted shows at Harrah's, at the Horseshoe, at the Isle of Capri. All of them are
good places, but all of them are trying to have diversity in their entertainment and
we're just a portion of that. We're not Vegas and we never will be, but the casinos have been good to us.
We also have some very good promoters in the state, very experienced guys that have a good background.
Q: What direction do you want to take the commission in the future?
A: Something I'd like to do is work more with the amateur boxing clubs, and I know some of the
other commissioners feel the same way. Professional boxing as a sport cannot survive without
a pool of boxers, and that pool comes from the amateurs. We're trying to do everything we
can. We don't have a lot of funds, but we try to not have conflicting events and help them
promote their shows within the legal limits we have. We want to help the amateur people
help grow their sport, because it's those people that are keeping our young men and women
off the streets. That's where every one of these guys on this card came from.
Originally published June 19, 2006
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