(SEPT 23) The New York State Athletic
Commission’s former Chairwoman Melvina Lathan has led a dual career as an
exhibiting mixed media artist and a distinguished Professional Boxing Judge.
In 1991, after many years of amateur boxing
affiliation, and completing an extensive professional judging apprenticeship,
she became the first African American Female licensed as such by the
State of New York, and would later become the first female to ever head the
State’s Athletic Commission.
She was licensed in many states and jurisdictions,
including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, California,
Texas, Missouri, and the Oneida, Pequot and Mohegan Tribal Nations.
She was a long-time member of the IBF, WBO, WBC and
IBO, and during her career as a boxing judge, worked more than 235 fight cards
(883+ bouts) including 84 World Title Contests in the U.S.A., Great Britain,
South Africa, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Sicily, Argentina, Amsterdam, Poland,
Scotland, Hungary and, China…As Chair of the NY State Athletic Commission,
she has overseen thousands of rounds of boxing.
Lathan devised and conducted training seminars for judges at the invitation
of the following:
* Manny Pacquiao Boxing Club, Manila Philippines, 2016
International Professional Boxing Union/Manny Pacquiao
Boxing Club, Beijing, 2015
* The First Tianjin Chinese International Boxing Exhibition
Games, 2012
* The European Boxing Union (Budapest, Hungary), 2010
* The New York State Athletic Commission
* The Washington D.C. Boxing Commission
* The International Boxing Federation
* The World Boxing Organization
* The International Boxing Council
She has judged for all of the major world and international sanctioning
organizations and received many boxing related honors including...
• New York Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee, 2018
• “Woman of the Decade” award, Ring 8/ New York Boxing Hall of
Fame, December 2015
• “Titans Of The Trade” Award for meritorious achievement, presented
by Mayweather Promotions, Las Vegas, May, 2015
• Inducted into the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame, “A Tribute
to Women in Boxing, July, 2014
• Inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, November,
2008
• “Lifetime Achievement Award”, presented by Ring 8, New York
Chapter, 2009.
• “Administrator of the Year Award”, presented by the American
Association of Ringside Physicians, 2008.
• The Black Women in Sports Foundation “Legends Award”,2002.
• The “Rocky Marciano Officials Award”, presented by the American
Association for the Improvement of Boxing in 2001.
She is a longtime member of the Board of
Directors for:
• The International Boxing Federation (IBF, senior vice president)
• The American Association for the Improvement of Boxing, NY
(President)
Because of her dual career as an exhibiting artist and boxing official, Lathan
was invited to join the consulting team which contributed to the earliest stages
of planning and development for the Muhammad Ali Center, now located in
Louisville, Kentucky.
Melvina has worked with three Administrations. In April, 2007, she was nominated
by Governor Eliot Spitzer as a Commissioner with the Athletic Commission and
confirmed in May, 2007. In July, 2008, Melvina Lathan was appointed Chairperson
of the New York State Athletic Commission by Governor David Paterson and
continued her service with Governor Andrew Cuomo through 2015 when she retired.
As Chairwoman, her list of accomplishments is extensive. To highlight just a
few, she has:
• Designed and launched the “Fight For Your Future Initiative” for
New York Boxers in partnership with City University of New York
(CUNY), the first program of its kind in the country.
• Addressed the College of Sports and Culture at Peking University
during their Inaugural Conference of Professional Sports.
• Helped establish regulatory agreement and initiated open lines of
communication with the Oneida Indian Nation on behalf of New
York State professional boxing.
• Managed the first Boxing event at the New Yankee Stadium (HBO),
over 30,000 in attendance.
• Established the Commission’s first medical database for all
licensed pugilists.
• Continued to attend seminars and actively engage in the study of
“Second Impact Syndrome” and its management in the boxing
community
• Preliminary research into MMA legalization and its impact on the
NYSAC infrastructure
Ms. Lathan, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of the Franklin
College of Science and Arts and resides in Westchester County, New York.
