Senator John McCain speaking with receiver Larry Fitzgerald (left), quarterback Carson Palmer and team president Michael Bidwill at a training camp practice in 2017 (source)

McCain wasn’t just a politician; he was a good sports lover and he used his political career to add some value to boxing, MLB and UFC.

He died on Saturday, 25th of August 2018.

Why is he so special?

John McCain was a soldier (jet attacker pilot) who survived captivity in Vietnam as a prisoner of war camp.

He later became a strong politician who had a 35-year career with many accomplishments. My first knowledge about him was when he had a Republican Presidential Nomination in 2016. He campaigned against Obama and that was when I saw him on TV in the debates.

He was diagnosed with brain cancer just a lil more than a year ago. One of the articles I had in mind was John vs John as I knew he had a form of disagreement on certain issues with Trump whose middle name is John. (Maybe because I’m John too though)

He was not just a politician; he was a big sports lover and considered to be Arizona’s number 1 sports fan as he was a supporter of the Diamond backs.


Now let’s make an outline of his contributions in Sports and see if my topic was just a fuzz or not.

Impact in Boxing

McCain boxed in the 1950s at the US Naval Academy. When he returned as a Prisoner of War from Vietnam, he joined politics and in 1996, he helped gain a passage for the Muhammed Ali Boxing Reform Act which is a federal law aimed at protecting professional boxers financially and medically. This Act helps to prevent boxers from being cheated. The act mandated a separation between promoters and managers so that a fighter’s best interest would be represented.

Today, boxers have a good life because of the Muhammed Ali Boxing Reform Act.

I think boxers should pay a tribute to him.

Jack Johnson (late), the first African American World heavyweight Boxing Champion received a pardon. President Trump pardoned Johnson this year. McCain succeeded at this since he began the movement in 2004 (105 years after conviction). I'm not sure how significant that is though.

Jack Arthur Johnson was the first African American World heavyweight Boxing Champion (1908-1915) was arrested for violating the MANN act. I wouldn’t want to digress the topic so feel free to read about it here. 

That was a long long time ago so McCain must have had such a good heart to accomplish such a task. I even thought it was irrelevant.

His passion for Boxing was so strong.

Bringing Reform to Ultimate Fighting Challenge

About 20 years ago, UFC was bloodier and was widely on pay-per-view. In 1997, he compared it to human cockfighting and made critiques that made it to be removed from pay per view and also banned in every state.

This led to a clean-up of the UFC. Today, UFC is saner with legal acceptance in many states.

His Impact on Baseball Doping


In 2004, while John McCain was serving as Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, he ensured that MLB introduced a harsher drug policy to curb illegal use of steroids among players.

In the early 1990s and 2000s, drug testing was not hard and doping test was just once a year. This made games to be dominated by stimulants.

McCain’s intervention made MLB introduce a harsh drug policy that brought some normalcy to the league which also applied to minor leagues.

His fatherly and caring side was revealed when he was asked to state his reason for a harsh drug test.

He mentioned that he cared about high school athletes who were likely to be tempted to use steroids because of the influence from older players.

Source: larrybrownsports

Major league Baseball team, Diamond Backs will never forget their biggest fan who made it a duty to attend their games whenever he was in Arizona.

McCain at a Diamondbacks Game in 2017 Source: thecomeback

The team has made several moves to immortalize him and pay tributes to him

Have you ever heard of Black Sox Scandal? You should read about it.

McCain supported bills that pushed for the induction of Jackie Robinson (Shoeless Joe Jackson), a MLB superstar of the 1900s into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

McCain was a fan of baseball though. He attended lots of games and the diamond backs will never forget him. A moment of silence will be held in his honor on Sunday.

McCain is also a supporter of the NHL Coyotes and American Football team, Arizona Cardinals.

McCain out to support the Arizona Cardinals. Source

sources:

Times Republican, Larry Brown Sports, Arizona, ABC News, Az Central, Athlon Sports TheComeBack

I hope you can see how significant McCain's political career has been to sports. He is a man worth celebrating.

Let the comments flow.